The Assistant
by JigsawRose
Summary: Bella finds herself falling for a man who just happens to be her new boss. I mean its simple, you go to work, you do your job, you pretend that everything is normal and you spend time together. Is it all that simple when that man may just become the person she cannot live life without? Can you ever fall in love with your boss without complicating things?
1. One

The Assistant

 _I know, it's been about a hundred years since I uploaded anything on here. I always find that life distracts me from what is going on in my head, that routine ruins my creativity because it squashes it. It removes it from my life and then I find that I can't function without it. This year I need to try and find myself and to do that I have to find the things that used to make me happy and writing always made me happy, whether or not anyone read them or not._

 _I always state this and it seems futile to do it again, however, I want to thank each and every person who reads, favourites or places any of my fictions on alert. I started writing these stories at a very difficult time in my life, at a time where I was recovering from chronic depression. A Misshapen Life gave me my soul back, that story allowed me to vent all the bad things and all the horrible thoughts I had in my head at that time. This is why I have never had the heart to delete this account._

 _Anyway, wordy introduction aside. I am going in a slightly different direction with this story to how I posted it about two years ago. This was originally going to be a Bella/Edward fic but I have been inspired by something I have been doing with a friend of mine on here (who is also a writer, herself). I am going to make this a Bella/Carlisle and set myself the challenge of putting these two together, this may be risky but I want to do something new this year. The story will also be set in London, England and the characters will all be British as I do struggle as a Brit myself to write American characters and lingo. As to my other fics, I will get around to them and I will try my very hardest to complete them._

_ .xBx._

"Oh man, you look like you haven't slept a wink."

I was not in the mood for my roommate Alice's painstakingly stating of the obvious this morning. Nor was I in the mood to fathom why she found so much pleasure at seeing me suffer. I guess that is what best friends are for.

With a grunt I sat down at our kitchen island. I took the filter jug of coffee out from underneath the machine and poured myself some in the mug that Alice had left out for me.

"Bella, how many times do I have to tell you? This job is going to be a great opportunity for you. I mean, sure, it's not what you want your main career to be but this a step through the door. Plus having contacts like the Cullen's will always help secure a great recommendation."

"Why must you always be so perky in the mornings, Alice? If I didn't love you so much I'd pour this coffee all over your pixie hair." With a large gulp of coffee, I grabbed a pencil from on top of the newspaper and started to work my way through the Sudoku.

"What time is the interview, again? Please tell me you have left out the outfit that I recommended you wear? If it goes one foot near that closet it will screw up to the point of no return. No employer, no matter how successful they may or may not be will not abide with a screwed-up skirt, Bella." I looked up as Alice hopped off of the stool and walked over to the sink, washing up her crockery.

"Its at ten and yes, for your information I have left it out but I am not wearing it. I'd like to think that employers spend more time focusing on the jobs they have to complete than staring at potentially new employees' skirts, Alice."

Alice sighed as she placed the crockery on the draining board to dry. "I was never going to win that, anyway. Okay just promise me you will drink enough coffee, eat something and keep yourself calm for this, Bella? Also, I demand that you call me the minute you're out for all the details as well."

"Deal, besides aren't you supposed to be at work, already?"

"Jasper told me I could come in a little later today, well, I say later only about half an hour later but it's amazing what a difference half an hour longer in bed makes." Alice replied, a Cheshire cat-like grin gracing her face as she mentions her boss.

"The perks of sleeping with the main man I see." Supressing a giggle, I fill in two squares of my Sudoku.

"Actually, yes. However, you know I had this job long before J came along. Now it's just a daily, riveting adventure where we pretend that we are nothing but platonic. The sexual tension builds to the point where an excuse is made as to why I need to stay late and then we let loose on his desk. I never really got the inter-office fantasies other women have until now."

I could feel my stomach tighten at the thought of Alice and Jasper going at it in his office. Taking a bigger gulp of my coffee, I hopped down from the stool. I grabbed the puzzle and headed back to my room. "With that, I'm off to get ready. Enjoy the sex!"

"I will and don't forget to put on red lipstick!" I heard Alice laugh and within minutes, the front door of our apartment closed signalling that I was now alone. With a sigh of relief I placed the puzzle book in my handbag, making a mental note to complete it once I got onto the train and stepped into my en-suite. I turned on my shower and stepped inside, basking myself under the hot water.

This was going to be a long day.

 _Deciding to keep it short and sweet so that we can make an introduction for a certain, dashing blonde Cullen in the next chapter. I'm aware that this pairing may not be for everyone but I hope it will be enjoyable for those of you that do._

 _-JR x-_


	2. Two

The Assistant

 _Thank you so much for the people who gave their thoughts on the first chapter. I was eager to post a second, today so here I am!_

 _Just to clarify, there will be a total of a seven year gap between Bella and Carlisle in this, Bella is 25 and he is 32. It's great to see that readers love this pairing and I hope that I can do it justice for all of you that do._

 _Enough with the chatter and onto the blonde Adonis._

_ .xCx._

"Mr Cullen won't allow me to take another message from him, he is insisting that you talk to him. Since he can't ever get a hold of you at work."

I was not in the mood for my assistant's attitude this morning. Since she got pregnant, all Rosalie Hale has been giving me is a bout of raging hormones, which if you could believe it, made her attitude even worse. I was actually finding myself happy to find a replacement for her and I am a decent man. I have a successful job and I work hard to maintain my reputation and credibility for my publications and I do have enough of those. Also, I liked all my employees and Rosalie Hale was an annoyance I could well do without but she is great at getting things done.

"Rosalie, please, with all due respect, tell my father that I took over his three publications as well as the two that I already have. Sometimes I need to have some peace at work, in the mornings to keep myself sane because of my workload. I have no personal life, no time to commit to anyone which is why Elizabeth left me. I am not ready to give him a progress report because even in his retirement he won't let go."

With a soft sigh, Rosalie nodded and placed the work cell back against her ear and recited my words to my father. Then, to my surprise, she hung up.

"Hell, I'm leaving in a few weeks, he can't fire me." With a small smile she grabbed her bag and placed it back over her shoulder. "Shall I ring the chauffeur to bring the car here or will you be walking this morning?"

Finishing my coffee I looked up at her. "I'm going to take the tube. It feels like one of those days where I need to be around people. Even if they are complete strangers."

"Of course. I will see you at work, then. I will get a start and hold the fort until you get there." Rosalie turned on her heel and walked out of my office and to the front door. After hearing it close, I decided to take my time in getting ready.

After taking a long shower, putting on my usual suit and putting my shoes on, I grabbed my briefcase and headed out of the door. London was actually seeing some rare sunlight this morning and it felt good on my skin, plus it made the people walking by have an unusual spring in their steps. Usually, the tube gave me anxiety attacks, I was willing this morning to get past it. Tubes only took minutes to get to each destination and I had been in London so long that it seemed pointless that I had not taken advantage of the transport links thus far. As I headed to the nearest tube stairwell in Westminster, I pulled out the tube map I always kept in my briefcase and glanced over it as I descended the stairs. It didn't seem to difficult, I needed to get a total of three tube lines and they were short enough not to feel claustrophobic or be clouded by people's body odour. At the barriers, I scanned my oyster card and headed down to the platform.

After waiting a few minutes, the first train arrived and I hopped on. I perched myself onto a seat and pulled out a newspaper from my case and started to fill in the crossword.

The second station was much busier, I found myself having to keep my elbows in as I got onto the escalators to get to the main station entrance and onto the other underground station. Just as I was about to get onto the other platform, I felt a force against my shoulder. After snapping back to reality I saw a young woman on the floor.

"Oh my, shit, I am so sorry, miss." I knelt down, releasing the briefcase in my hand and helped her pick up the contents of her handbag from the ground.

"It's fine, it's my fault. I stopped to read the signs and didn't quite realize that I was right in the centre of where people walk back and forth." With a nervous laugh she stood up, holding her handbag close and zipping it back up.

"Are you hurt? I mean this ground is pretty hard, I could take you to see a doctor if you need to." I stood up with her, trying to distract myself from how shiny her hair was in the light. It was the richest of chocolate brown with red undertones, probably the most beautiful colour I had ever seen.

"No, really it's okay. I must try and get to an interview on time and doctors always have a habit of keeping you waiting, so, I don't think any potential new boss is going to be happy with my tardiness."

"Well at least let me help you where you need to go? Really I feel bad that I turned you into human roadkill."

With a laugh, she shook her head. The smile reached her eyes and they shone, her eyes, the same colour as her hair. I found myself thinking that her boyfriend must have been extremely lucky. Lucky to stare into those eyes every day. This was a stranger, I was already thinking of how beautiful she was and whether she had a boyfriend or not. I forgot how women could captivate a man, how they could put us under their spell and not even know they were doing it. Elizabeth was the same and I had not thought about her or our relationship in a long time. "That's really okay, sir. I am super early anyway so I am just concerned about getting there and maybe grabbing a coffee beforehand so I can relax."

"Fair enough. I wish you the best of luck with your interview, miss. Have a good day."

"Thank you, you too."

I stepped onto the tube as it arrived and sat down. My head was filled with the beautiful brunette for the rest of my trip to work. For some reason, the thought of her relaxed me, I was no longer thinking of my father, thinking of the jobs for the day. All I could think about was her hair and what it may smell like …

 _Damn it, Carlisle. Pull yourself together._

I was thankful to see Rosalie at her desk as I approached my office after finally getting to work. I took some paper from her with my messages on it along with my usual morning Americano.

"Remind me never to take the underground, again."

"Oh no, what did you do? You got here on time so you can't have gotten lost."

"I caused injury to someone, I wasn't looking and I crashed into her. The next thing I knew, there she was, flat out on the ground. The girl was too busy thinking about going to an interview than going to get herself checked out by a doctor. I found myself thinking how much she reminded me of you."

Rosalie smiled, "We women don't like to be beaten down. Sometimes there are other priorities, I used to be like that until I got pregnant and then Emmett came into his own when he could tell me what to do. I hope he enjoys it because as soon as this baby is out of me, I am the boss again."

I smiled, I had only met Emmett maybe a couple of times but he and Rosalie doted on each other. They made a great couple, it really was an opposites attract situation.

"I'm sure he will be more than happy for things to go back to normal. He will have a child, after all. I hear they change things."

I walked away from her once her phone rang, signalling that I would be needed in a matter of seconds for another client. After opening my office, balancing everything in my arms to do so, I sat down at my desk and turned on the computer. I placed the papers down on my desk and looked at my itinerary,

I was having interviews for Rosalie's replacement, today.

I suddenly had a feeling that this was going to be a long one, Rosalie was going to be hard to place and it needed to be someone, right. Plus I haven't done many interviews so I was still a little rusty.

 _Bring it on, there's no going back now._


	3. Three

The Assistant

 _Thank you for the reviews and alerts as always lovelies._

 _Its Sunday it's a chill day and it's time to update. I am still unsure as to whether I will update one or two chapters today, we will have to see how it goes. I can't get these little minxes out of my head._

_ .xBx._

After making my bed, I adjusted my skirt, using my wardrobe mirror to help make the final touches. I went out and got a blouse and skirt especially for the interview this morning, even though I cannot stand clothes shopping. Being a self-conscious person didn't help when it came to the fluorescent and disturbingly unflattering changing room lights. I knew of the Cullens, I knew of their legacy and what image they want to convey to their consumers, knowing this I had to make a better effort than what I would do for a normal interview. This wasn't a 'normal' job. I knew that, already.

I placed Alice's lipstick in my handbag, reminding myself to put it on when I was on the Underground so it wouldn't rub off. I was under instruction from Alice, I don't know squat about makeup. I barely had any of my own, some mascara and lip balm went a long way in my life. Hauling my bag over my shoulder, I locked the apartment and headed down to the ground floor. I took my cell and my oyster card out of my jacket pocket and placed them in the little side pocket of my bag as I headed outside into the city.

I couldn't help but smile at the sun, England rarely saw any sunlight. Unless there was searing humidity where we would all have to walk around like roasting chickens, the climate was always cold in this country. I had the dream of moving to another country a few years back, it still stood when it came to the weather. Nowhere in particular, any where that was going to be hotter than here would suffice.

I made my way to the underground stairwell, Alice had been kind enough to write directions for me, not realising that I had never been to three of the stations on the map at all. Plus, she had really messy handwriting which made it harder for me to make out. I pulled out the directions when I finally got to the platform and stood waiting for the train. I would have to come from Brixton where we were and get to Westminster, I would have to go into a central station and come back out, again. Four trains in total and it would only take … Twenty minutes.

 _Seriously?!_

It felt like Westminster was a trek to get to. It is when you walked it and I had gotten up far too early. I would have to wait somewhere for nearly an hour until my interview. Thankfully, there were more than enough coffee shops to sit in around here. Still, I wish I had looked at the directions, sooner… I could have done with some more sleep.

Keeping my wits about me and my elbows close to my body I managed to get to Westminster, I managed to get another two stops beyond that before I got to a flat stop. I had been stupid enough to leave the directions on the train, now I had to try and decipher the signs to get to my next platform.

 _Oh shit, okay, breathe …Keep breathing._

Seeing as there was no escalator to get up to a main station, there was one to go down. The only option I had was to go down, asking for directions was meaningless when there were people running marathons to get to work. I was raised in the country in the middle of nowhere so you can imagine my shock at having to get used to people ignoring you in the city.

After getting down the escalator and trying to keep my anxiety at bay, I came to a stop in the middle of the underground. I looked up at a sign, thankfully that there weren't too many people down here that I was standing in the way of. After a few minutes, I had managed to see the notification of the train I had to get. However, it was departing in ten minutes and I was on the wrong platform.

I turned on the spot, with a thud, I suddenly found myself on the floor. I opened my eyes, again and found myself staring at the ground.

 _What the…._

"Oh, shit, oh I am so sorry, miss." I looked up at the gentleman who was picking up the contents of my handbag from the floor. I hated my stuff being touched, especially by strangers, even though this one. Snapping back to reality, I clambered to my knees and took out the personal things and placed them into my bag before he could grab them. Once they were zipped away, I held out the bag so he could put the stuff that he was holding into it.

""It's fine, it's my fault. I stopped to read the signs and didn't quite realize that I was right in the centre of where people walk back and forth." I hadn't been in the way of anyone, he must have crashed into me. I couldn't be mad at him, he had been only one of the rare people to help me at all. Let alone, help me when I had fallen down. With a nervous laugh I stood up, I held my handbag close to my chest and zipped it up. I was always too clumsy for my own good.

"Are you hurt? I mean this ground is pretty hard, I could take you to see a doctor if you need to."

I finally looked up at him, I felt the breath catch in my throat almost instantly. There was an aura about him, not to mention that fact that he looked like he had been carved from stone. He was the perfect build, had the shiniest blonde hair and smooth, fair skin. I was always nervous around men, even the mediocre looking ones. I always felt like I was going to be bad at dating so I never did, much to Alice's dismay. I was inexperienced as hell when it came to the opposite sex, I had hoped that when I found the right one, one that I was incredibly attracted to that I would know instantly. I would want to date them and get to know them and with any luck they would be attracted to me and want to get to know me, too.

"No, really it's okay. I must try and get to an interview on time and doctors always have a habit of keeping you waiting, so, I don't think any potential new boss is going to be happy with my tardiness."

 _I feel like I'm babbling, am I babbling? Damn it, Bella Marie pull yourself together._

"Well at least let me help you where you need to go? Really I feel bad that I turned you into human roadkill."

With a laugh, I shook my head. A good sense of humour as well, I found it so lovely that he was willing to help me. I found myself suddenly so indebted and grateful to the blonde stranger who had run me over in the underground. This is the kind of stuff movies are built on.

 _At least in my head._

"That's really okay, sir. I am super early anyway so I am just concerned about getting there and maybe grabbing a coffee beforehand so I can relax." Oh yes, I must tell him about my earliness because that doesn't make me look like I have much of a life. Or just makes me look like I love work and choose that over having a life.

 _I really need to calm down._

"Fair enough. I wish you the best of luck with your interview, miss. Have a good day." With a nod of the head he walked in the direction behind me, out of sight. I managed to reply before he disappeared onto the oncoming train that had ground to a stop on the platform.

"Thank you, you too."

With a smile he got onto the train, as the door closed I watched him sit down and take out a crossword book and a pencil. After mere seconds, the train disappeared, leaving an empty platform behind in its wake. Adjusting the back properly back onto my shoulder, I turned around and headed onto the opposite platform to wait.

I brushed down the back of my skirt and ran my hand through my hair, I was a little conscious about whether I looked like I had just been run over by a stranger. Not that anyone would have the decency to tell me if my pantyhose had ripped or my hair was even the slightest out of place, let's just hope I didn't. I wasn't able to think about anything else but him as I waited for the train to arrive. I have never thought so much about someone I hardly knew, I was envisioning what he did for a job, where he was heading to, whether he was heading to work or whether he was visiting family for the day.

I managed to get to my final destination without any more problems, I had the sneaky suspicion I may have taken a longer route to get here. I may have to look into shorter journeys, perhaps to get to stations where there were less people. Even in the smaller stations on this journey there were the same amount of people. I was the roommate that made contingencies, Alice was too busy having Jasper Hale on the brain. I had yet to meet her boss but there was no doubt in my mind that she was infatuated with him. That and she was having a lot of sex, the girl had a constant grin on her face that spread wide enough to be obvious to everyone. Plus, Alice liked sex. Something she liked to share with me a lot and unfortunately something that I could never share my opinion on.

 _How can you share an opinion on something you have never personally experienced?_

I managed to get back into the outside world, with a sigh of relief and the sun basking warmth over my face I headed to a nearby Café Nero. The offices I needed to get to where only ten minutes away from here so I didn't need to rush. I made my way into the shop and shimmied through the people walking out and found myself a corner booth. I put my stuff down and went to order a caramel latte. After not being able to say no to the whipped cream on top, I walked back to the booth, placed my phone on charge in a nearby port and pulled out my Sudoku book.

I tried to push the blonde stranger out of my mind as I finished my puzzle and think about how I was going to try my hardest to get a successful interview, today.

 _Let's just hope that I get a shot, at least._


	4. Four

The Assistant

 _Oh screw it, here's a second for you. It's not like I have anything else to do, today. It's snowing and I am staying in the warm under my blankets._

 _Plus, the minxes win. Damn rebels can't get out of my head._

 _Also here's a question; would you like to see BOTH perspectives of this interview or just Bella's? Let me know!_

_ .xBx._

So, after my latte …

Okay, _three_ lattes I was feeling a little bit of a buzz. I only had ten minutes to get to where I needed to be and I needed to calm down on the way. At least try and calm down on the way, in heels, down various little alleyways away from civilization.

I made my way to the office main building, it wasn't one of the only buildings in the place, of course. The Cullen family had built an empire and my potential boss, Carlisle had multiple buildings and complexes in the city, since he was the CEO of all of them. I am sure that the man doesn't have much time for a social life, which is a shame, if I were a millionaire close to my first billion I wouldn't know what to do. The only thing I would want to do first is replace someone else to do my job so I could sit on the savings.

 _Oh who am I kidding? I wouldn't life any differently, I wouldn't know how._

I couldn't lie and say that I wasn't interested in my new potential boss. As an assistant, the job on the outside seemed to be self-explanatory. The description was a little lacking outside of the usual duties. I had some experience in being an assistant before but my former boss and I had clashing personalities. I found his treatment of the staff unacceptable and he, in turn, found me to be lacking in my knowledge of people and not a team player. Thankfully, I didn't leave that place of employment with any references. I wouldn't have wanted any, anyway.

Managing to get to the front of the building, I couldn't stop my mouth from gaping open at the sheer extent of it. It was just as large as the new Shard building that had been built in the centre of the city. It was huge, extraordinary …

 _If this didn't sound rude, I could carry on thinking about it. Someone, one person, only one person runs this whole place._

It would be an amazing place to come to work every day. Just being here made the city look so alive, if it wasn't so busy and alive, already. Now even my thoughts weren't making any sense. I just realized that I had to try and find some job here. Have you ever been to a new place and even though it's new and you've had no precious affiliations with it, you have this surge of 'belonging'?

 _Does this make me sound batshit crazy?_

 _I think so._

"Can I help you, miss? You seem lost."

I glanced at the stranger who appeared in front of me. I found myself mentally kicking myself for not spending more time in this part of the city. Or at least that Alice hadn't told me about it. Alice praised herself on being able to find the best looking men, it seems, in this case that she fallen short.

This guy was not the blonde in the Underground, he had dirty blonde hair with copper shades in the ends. The spiky hairstyle enhanced his long but incredibly defined facial features. His eyes, a bright shade of green as the sunlight from above hit us as we both looked up at the building.

"Do you work here?" I stammered, a little nervous as I tried to stop myself from shaking, I wasn't shaking out of nervousness, the caffeine was still swimming through my veins.

"Yes. I am in the financial department, you know payslips, wages … Just a shit ton of numbers. Do you have an appointment to meet someone here?" The man turned to face me, a small smirk on his face as he looked me over.

"I have an interview with Mr Cullen. He's on the top floor, I assume?"

He let out a small chuckle, he must have sensed my nerves, either that or he had found humour at the strange, jittering woman standing in front of a building and staring it down for minutes on end. "Carlisle's assistant, Rosalie is meeting all the interviewees in the lobby. It will be her job to take you up to his office and then I'm sure you will be called in one by one. Rosalie is pregnant and she comes across as very blunt and brutal. Once you get to know her …" He let out a wider smirk and lowered his eyes for a moment before continuing, "she is okay. You'll be fine."

I smiled and held out my hand, "I'm Isabella … Bella Swan."

After a moment, he placed his hand in mine, "Edward Masen. Head of finance at Cullen enterprises. Also distant cousin of the Cullen family but of course, I chose to get into finance because no one comes down, there. We are the maths nerds, if that doesn't impress you then I have the power to change some numbers on your future payslips."

I laughed and nodded, releasing his hand after shaking it a few times, "Noted. I loved maths in school, if I get the job can I come down to the department and play number games?"

"Absolutely, we always need some women down there. We never see any women, that's why I like to date women outside of work. All the good looking ones only want to be assistants, either that or department heads." With a raised eyebrow, he walked away from me and entered the building. I felt a little relieved at actually knowing someone at the place, already. I soon followed him, climbed the steps and walked into the lobby.

It was beautiful, it was inviting, it was clean, and it looked comfortable. If there weren't other men and women walking around no one would be able to tell that it was a multi-million pound company. It looked more like the reception at my apartment building across town.

I saw a group of people over on some sofas in the corner of the room, I walked over to them and perched onto the last empty seat. I clutched my bag close to my chest and shot a few people some nervous smiles, however, I had no need to converse with anyone. Conversing with competition would make me question myself and doubt my ability to do the job and doubt myself in even being here at all.

I looked up at the clock on the wall behind the reception desk as it stroke ten. Within minutes, I heard heels clomping from across the way and I saw a blonde coming towards us. This woman looked like a woman on a mission, she was wearing incredibly high heels for someone with a bump, the bump, however, perfectly proportioned. This must be the Rosalie woman, the one who's job one of us is taking. There was no way this woman was close to giving birth, she barely looked like she was five months gone. Also, she was just as glamorous for someone who was probably hormonal and extremely uncomfortable.

"Okay, thank you all of you for being on time. I am just going to tick off everyone's name to make sure that all of you did turn up, this morning." Taking a pen off of the lanyard around her neck she started to go down a list of names in the book in her hands. The people on the sofas were putting their hands up one by one.

"Finally, Isabella Swan?"

I rose my hand meekly and shot her a small smile. I saw her eyes rest on me, she thought for a moment, a slight frown between her eyes. I saw her mouth a couple of words before she nodded, got herself together and closed the book. "I want to say congrats, I don't think we have ever had a full house, before. You guys must have some real potential. Well if you all are ready, I am going to take you upstairs and Mr Cullen will see you one by one. I will just need the forms you were emailed to fill out for administrative reasons, as that will be my job whilst you are being interviewed and then we will be good to go."

I opened my bag and reached in for the form, I unfolded it and ran my hands over the crease before standing up, a little wobbly and handing it to her. "Are you alright, Isabella?"

"Yes, I'm fine thank you." I whispered, putting my bag back over my shoulder. I went to the back of the group as we lined up and followed them all as Rosalie led us to the elevators. As we all got in, she pressed the button for the top floor and stood holding her book to her chest.

We all watched as the numbers above us increased as we moved further and further up. All of us having the same thought, the same anxiety and the same nervousness.

_.x._

With a ding, the elevator doors opened and revealed a large office ahead of us, the office had another door at the back which I assumed was Mr Cullen's office. Rosalie led us to the corner of the room and gestured to another bunch of furniture. All of us sat down and watched as she went to the other office door. With a soft knock, she entered the room, disappeared for a moment and came back out. Going by the list that we were called, I watched the first person stand and take a plastic wallet out of his bag and walk into the office.

_.x._

I found myself looking at the clock, again. I took out my phone and checked my emails to pass some time. My name was the last on the list and there wasn't much stuff for me to do. I turned off the phone once I sent some replies and took out my Sudoku book. I took out my pencil and chewed on the end of it as I tried again to wrack my brain and fill in four more squares. I didn't like to leave any puzzle unfinished, the only time I can't finish a puzzle is if I burn it to dust and then that is the only time that I can get over it.

After a painful half an hour, watching people come and go from the office, I was the only man left standing. I looked over at Rosalie who finished typing at the computer and who had turned to look at me.

"You are free to go in now, Isabella."

 _Oh shit, why hadn't I stood up earlier?_

"Isabella Swan is it?" I turned at the sound of another voice. I couldn't help the gasp that came out of my mouth.

There he was, the blonde stranger from the Underground. I couldn't move my lips, I watched as his expression changed from confusion to realisation. With a small smirk he stepped to the side of the doorway and held out his hand, gesturing for me to go in. Biting down on my lip, I lowered my eyes and shifted forward. I stepped into his office without a second glance back and held my bag tighter against my body.

"Please, Miss Swan, have a seat. Would you like me to put your bag down here or will you be needing it?"

I looked at him and shook my head. "No thank you, I just need to get the plastic wallet out of it. It has all my references in there and all the paperwork you might need. Passport, birth certificate and everything."

"Hey, it's alright." I felt a soft touch to my shoulder, brief but comforting, and it disappeared as quickly as it came. "Please come and sit down. Would you like something to drink? You seem a little jittery. Some water at least?"

"Water would be great, thank you." I walked over and sat down on the seat, relieved that my feet could no longer bear the brunt of my body weight. Especially when my legs are as shaky as they are, damn caffeine.

 _How can these things happen? How does life do this?_

I watched him walk over to the cooler at the side of his office, he took one of the plastic cups on top of it and filled it up. With a smile he came back and placed it in front of him. "I should feel flattered. That you would miss a check-up from a doctor to come and be interviewed by me. I must say as your potential boss I am impressed, Isabella."

"Please call me Bella. I'm sorry, I'm sorry that I am so jittery. I am not nervous, I do get nervous but I never show it. I drank too many lattes, I was too early."

"Being early is good. I take it you don't drink a lot of coffee? Are you more of a tea drinker, instead?" Carlisle sat down at his desk, took the plastic wallet from in front of me and opened it. His long fingers glided along the material as he opened the popper and took out the contents.

"It doesn't matter, that doesn't matter when it comes to my ability to do this job. Did you have any questions for me?"

"Why don't you tell me a little bit about yourself?" I bit down on my lip, I hated talking about myself, especially when I didn't have any guiding questions to help me.

"What did you want to know? I am really bad at talking about myself." I crossed my legs beneath me, trying to stop the nausea surge in my stomach from getting any worse.

"Okay…" Carlisle smiled widely and placed down the papers back down on his desk. "Why didn't you take my train earlier today? You would have gotten here a lot sooner. Did you plan your journey before getting here?"

I fought the urge to smile, I lowered my eyes to the floor once more. Of course he would've picked up on that.

"My roommate, Alice planned my journey. She's not really the type for having back-up plans or contingencies but she has a better grasp of the London Underground system than I do. I trusted her. Besides, she didn't get me lost. That's the main thing. I don't normally come into central London because I work near where I live right now."

"That's fair enough. Well Isabella, let's get down to it. What made you apply for this job? I have been asking the others why they would want to start out as assistants. Would they be willing to accept the lowest level and work their way up to the top?"

"I'd like to think I am at a low level right now, I wanted to go up. I wanted to see if I could get more money and gain more skills, better skills. I have researched into this company and its impressive. I feel like being here will help me gain contacts, make me network. I want to try and understand what I really want to do …." I stopped, I felt like I was saying too much. Too much that wasn't relevant. I didn't know what I wanted to do in life or who I wanted to be, yet.

Life still scared me. I am twenty five years old and the thought of finding my life scares me.

Carlisle nodded towards the cup, "drink … Bella. Please?"

I took the cup and sipped from it, the coolness of the water soothing my dry throat. I placed the cup back down and placed my bag on the floor. I could still feel his eyes on me, I didn't know what else to say.

"You know what being my assistant would entail? Aside from the normal duties you will be on call most of the time, there will be pointless jobs like dry cleaning or delivery pick-ups. You will have access to my house, only one key that allows on you access. You will not be in my house all the time, mind but sometimes for my peace of mind I get Rosalie to go over the day with me before I start. Sometimes bring me a soy latte, too."

"Is there a chance to promote? Maybe become … A department head? Perhaps get trained in multiple departments so my skills can improve?"

I saw Carlisle's expression change, I didn't want to give him any reason to think I wasn't capable of the opportunity or any less grateful for it. "I'm sorry the job sounds great, I just need to know if there's somewhere that I can go after… If I decide to, you know what I mean?"

"Yes I understand." Carlisle picked up the papers again and glanced over them. "Is there anything else I need to know about you? Do you have any specific needs that we can adhere to? Any emotional needs or any physical requirements?"

 _Say what?_

"N..No. I am relatively healthy, except for the occasional binge of pringles or malteasers during film nights or when I'm feeling sad. Like most girls that way, I guess. Chocolate being the one thing we cling on when things get emotional. Anyway, no I should be fine."

"That's good, thank you." Carlisle stood up and walked to the window, I noticed that his demeanour had changed, ever since I asked him about promotions he was being off. I watched the back of his head for a minute before standing up myself.

"Shall I show myself out?"

Carlisle turned, his face soft but his expression blank. With a deep breath he walked over to me.

"I will speak with Rosalie about all the candidates this afternoon and we will be able to give you an answer in a couple of days. Would you like some written feedback so it can help you with future interviews?"

I shook my head, "this interview was far too short. I have the feeling that I may have pissed you off. You don't need to tell me that I didn't get it, I will get the hint when I don't get a call. Thank you for the opportunity, Mr Cullen."

Carlisle lowered his eyes a little, I could've sworn there was a hint of sadness in them but I was useless when it came to men. Expressions and body language in general was lost on me. I watched as he held out his hand, his skin looked so smooth and I wanted, longed in that moment to trace my finger along that skin. I placed my hand gently in his and gripped it loosely.

"It was great to meet you, Bella."

"Thank you for this morning, as well. I didn't say it at the time but I was grateful. I am grateful for this, sir."

I released his hand, turned around, took my bag off of the ground and placed it over my shoulder. I walked out of the office and out of Rosalie's office without another word. I headed to the elevator and pressed the button for the ground floor.

_.x._

How could I have been so stupid? How could I have let my head speak for me, I was physically clumsy as well as clumsy with my words a lot of the time. I had one job, to get here and to do carry out the interview as best as I could. I couldn't even do that.

 _I've never felt more like an idiot._

Once the elevator landed in the lobby, I headed out and was walking towards the main building doors. I took out my phone and opened up a blank message, I was ready to type a message to Alice before I felt a hand on my shoulder. On impulse, I swung around and came face to face with Rosalie.

"Whoa, whoa. It's okay, Bella. Don't make us clash heads before you've even started. Mr Cullen wants me to tell you that he is sorry for the way the interview ended. He would like to meet you for dinner tonight, he has booked reservations at Prezzo. Plus, congratulations are in order. He doesn't need to speak with me, he is convinced he's found who he wants and you're it, Isabella. The car will come by to pick you up at eight pm."

Rosalie turned and walked away without another word, I was left with my mouth agape for the second time, today.

 _What just happened here?_

 __.x.__

 _Oh Bella if only you knew what was happening inside that man's head. I don't think even he knows._

 _Poor Carlisle and Bella, infatuation makes people look like real idiots doesn't it?_

 _Tell me how you want the next chapter to go my lovelies and I will see you next time._


	5. Five

The Assistant

Hello Darlings,

 _The score for getting Carlisle's POV was 1-1 so for now, I will continue. I will use this chapter to split up the POVs so you can still get a dose of our blonde Adonis. I will add Carlisle's POV in the interview at the end of the story for future reading so it doesn't get lost._

 _Since I have a couple of days off, the next chapter will be the dinner as I have to do the boring chore-like stuff until I can get some downtime to devote myself to it._

 _Thank you for the favs/alerts and reviews x_

_.xCx._

I watched her go, I watched the beautiful brunette go.

 _I was such an idiot!_

I had freaked the moment she had asked me about potential for a promotion, which made me think that she was not going to be any different to my previous assistants without giving her a chance to change my mind. I had a record of keeping an assistant, it was only a year and Rosalie had been the one to break it. Even now, however, Rosalie's growing family was making her leave. I'll be honest, I was envious of some of my other employees who had the same assistant for about ten years, and they were comfortable with each other and knew how the other worked…

 _Of course they weren't attracted to them, either, so that may be a major difference, too._

I had to stop her, I had to make her see that I wasn't a bastard.

"Why do I get the feeling that you two have met before? Oh, I know, maybe it's because she was the brunette that you ran over in the Underground this morning. Just call it a hunch, am I right?" I looked up to find Rosalie standing in the doorway, a gloating smirk on her face.

"Rosalie, please." I stood up from my chair. "Stop her, tell her that I am inviting her to dinner tonight, she thinks that she isn't going to get the job and I don't want to end an interview like that."

"You're inviting someone who you just interviewed to have dinner with you? Seriously?"

"Rosalie, just do this for me. You can gloat, smirk and tease all you want but right now I need you to stop that girl from walking out of this building. I was an idiot, I will explain if you want me to, hell I will open myself up to all your mocking if you like."

"Okay, okay I am going. Man, this girl has left her mark on you, already. I think I may actually be starting to like her." Rosalie smirked again and left the doorway and rushed towards the elevator.

With a sigh I turned to the window, I glanced at the other CVs that I had discarded in the bin before I looked out onto the city.

I had to mend some things and fast.

_.xBx._

I watched Rosalie leave for what seemed like hours before I turned back around to walk out of the building. I climbed down the marble steps, keeping my eyes on the ground before I heard a whistle.

I looked up to see Alice walking towards me.

"Alice, what are you doing here?"

Without saying a word, she wrapped her arms around me, encircling me in a hug. "I had a quiet morning so I asked Jasper whether I could come and see how you were doing. How did it go?" Alice released me, however, kept her hands on my shoulders.

"I don't really … I don't _know_."

"What do you mean? Did he say anything? Did he give you any feedback to use for the next time you're interviewed so you can improve?"

"Oh Alice you are not going to believe the morning I have had." With a smile, she linked her arm with mine.

"Luckily we have most of the morning, I don't have to meet any clients until one. I have time. Let's go and have a coffee and talk it over."

I started to walk across the main street with her, avoiding the traffic. My stomach literally turned at the mention of coffee. "Please, no coffee. I think I am going to need a peppermint tea, I had way too much coffee this morning."

"Just how much did you have?"

"Three medium caramel lattes."

"Oh Bella." Alice supressed a laugh as we headed to a nearby Starbucks and walked inside. "Peppermint and Camomile Tea it is, then. Find a booth and I will get these. Plus you are having some chocolate muffins, life is always better with chocolate, after all."

Unable to say no to her, I walked towards the back of the shop and found a quieter area where I could hear myself think. I sat down at a booth and looked out onto the City, I placed my bag down next to me and rested my elbows on the table. I looked at the building we had come from in the distance, looking right up to the top floor where I had been minutes ago.

"Here we are, lovely." Alice returned with a tray and placed my pot of tea and cup in front of me along with a slice of chocolate cake. "They were out of muffins so I got us both cake."

"Thank you." I lifted the lid of my teapot and stirred in the teabag with my teaspoon as Alice sat down and placed her iced latte and carrot cake in front of her.

"Okay, Bella. Start from the beginning."

_.xCx._

"There it's done. I told her you would meet her at Prezzo at eight."

I turned back around from the window and shot Rosalie an appreciative smile.

"Thank you, Rosalie. Any chance you can ring up the restaurant and make the booking?"

"Sure but afterwards you are making the time to tell me more about how you drove that girl away. Not that I have _that_ much interest in your private life but it is a quiet morning until your conference calls at two."

I rolled my eyes, I should have known that Rosalie would have picked up on the atmosphere. Now I even regretted telling her about what had happened this morning at all.

I sat back down at my desk, I looked at the plastic wallet that Bella had left behind. I contemplated looking at it, I let my fingers run over the open seal for a moment as I waited for Rosalie to come back. I picked it up and opened it, conveniently, her birth certificate had fallen out of it. I took it and held it in my hands.

 _Born in Hampsire, White/British, 25 years old._

"You're not going to find too much information in there." I looked up to see Rosalie by the doorway, again, with another wide smirk on her face.

"I am not going to miss your sneaking up on me when you go on maternity leave by the way." I put the certificate down and slouched further against the back of the chair.

"You're going to miss me in general. Now, dish." With another smirk she waddled over to the seat opposite my desk and sat down on it. With a grunt she rubbed her lower back as she tried to make herself comfortable.

"Oh this child. I love him, I am trying to embrace the feeling of becoming a mother but my god. Carrying him around really is uncomfortable."

"Do you want me to get you a cushion for your back? Ease the pain a little? I think I may have some spare heat pads in my desk, too if you'd prefer those."

"No thank you, it's okay. If I can't handle this now, what am I going to be like in six weeks? I will be sitting or lying down from the moment I finish my last day here don't you worry. Emmett _will_ be giving me daily massages to make up for the fact that I am growing our son inside me."

I let out a chuckle and folded my arms across my chest, "It _was_ Bella who was run over by me this morning. You guessed it right. I couldn't stop thinking about her all the way here and then suddenly she turns up here to be interviewed."

"Wasn't that awkward? I mean she _was_ eligible for the job by her CV. I do think she could have had some more training and skills with people but that was something we could have brought her. All of the candidates were the best out of all the ones I received."

"Awkward as hell. I was trying to be professional, I was trying to gauge what she wanted out of a career and what she wanted to do with her life. It was so hard, Rosalie. Bella is … There's something about her. I don't know whether it is her beauty or just the fact that she has an aura about her that makes her so interesting."

"So you were trying to maintain the position of an employer as well as trying to fight off the urge to fantasize what she was like without any clothes on? Thankfully I have never been in that position of power when having to fight off those fantasies."

"It's not like that, Rosalie. This is _me_. It's not about sex, it's not about having sex first and then removing all the mystery in the relationship. I haven't been attracted to someone since Elizabeth. I didn't know what to do."

"So why are you taking her out to dinner later?"

"Bella was talking about whether she could have more training in other departments, talking about whether there was a chance of promotion…"

"Oh boss. You didn't go all weird on her, did you?"

"I might have done."

Rosalie sighed, shaking her head. I bit down on my lip and lowered my eyes. I knew I was being stupid, too. I wish I hadn't been such a guy, tried to be so possessive of her and keep her with me because the idea of her becoming my assistant excited me. It excited me but scared me at the same time.

"So now you have to make out that you're not weird, you don't want to get into her pants and you want her to work closely with you because you are attracted to her."

"Rosalie, I don't want to get into her pants-"

"Carlisle, you are a man. As professional as you are, as successful as you are, deep down you are still a man. A man who thinks about sex every thirty seconds. You are programmed to think more about sex than us women do, which is why you need it so much. I find it hard to comprehend how you have managed to go so long without dating someone just to find the release. What a surprise, I am a woman and I know how men work. Bella may not realise she has done it, she may not ever realise it but she has gotten under your skin."

"She has, Rose, she really has."

_.xBx._

"So the same man who collided with you in the Underground this morning turned out to be your potential boss? Oh Bella only this could happen to you."

"I know but I think I may have ruined my chances at getting the job. Car- Mr Cullen seemed to be a little 'off' with me when the interview was over?"

"Why, what did you both talk about besides the job description and your own experiences?"

"I can only really place it to when I was talking to him about having training in other departments and possibly whether there was an opportunity to get promoted into the company."

Alice frowned, wiped her face with a tissue and placed her now empty plate onto the tray. "I don't see why that would be a problem. It's a valid question, an assistant is not a job role that is meant for everyone to be permanent. I mean, someday you want to own your own place and that doesn't come cheap. Plus the whole emigration thing, which I know you are not doing, will happen and you'll need money for that."

I could only hum in response, "anyway he wants to take me to dinner tonight. I guess to interview me further?"

"He invited you to dinner? For a second interview? Did he state that it was a second interview?"

"Not exactly, Rosalie came out and told me that he was going to collect me in his car at eight. I didn't hear her say anything about a second interview."

"Bella, do you realise what this means?" Alice had the biggest smile on her face, she looked like she was going to combust at any second. "It means you're going out to dinner with a millionaire, not just any millionaire but one of the most successful men in Britain."

"Does this mean you are going to insist that we go out and get some clothes? Oh Alice, not again. It's bad enough when I am doing that by myself. I mean it's not a second interview, I could wear jeans and maybe a nice jumper, right?"

"No, no, no. No jeans, Bella and your sweaters are a little lumpy. We don't have to go all 'pretty woman' on you, honey but having new clothes give you confidence. Plus, you have a lovely figure, Bella. You're curvy and we need to make sure that they are shown. Normally, your clothes are too baggy and they get hidden."

"If I let you choose me an outfit will you let the subject go?"

"Absolutely." Who was I to take away something that Alice loved? Shopping and makeup made her happy which is why she went into the fashion industry in the first place.

With a nod, I placed my empty teapot and plate onto the tray and sat back against the chair.

"Should I be worried about saying all the wrong things, again?"

"No Bella, just be you and everything will be fine. Something tells me that you may already have this interview in the bag."

_.xCx._

I was packing up my briefcase at the end of the day. I laid Bella's plastic wallet on the top of the pile, inside as a reminder that I needed to give it back to her, tonight.

I turned off my desk lamp once the clock stroke half six and closed my office door. I found Rosalie finishing up at her desk before she slowly stood up.

"You could have left a little earlier, Rosalie. You didn't need to stay behind, I could have closed up on my own."

Rosalie started to pack her own bag, flashing me a smile, "and miss out on the opportunity to see you before your big date, tonight?"

"It's not a date, Rosalie."

"Yeah, yeah I get it. You have some grovelling to do. It's hardly a date when you have to take out the tail between your legs, huh? Look promise me if anything goes wrong you text me the safe word and I will come there and say that there is an emergency I need your help with."

"I won't have to use that, I have already behaved awfully to this girl, the last thing I need is to lie to her as well. Even if I do make things awkward and if she never talks to me, again at least I tried to make amends."

"Shut up planning the outcome, already and go take a shower. Put on a good aftershave and some of your nice casual clothes. You don't wear your casual clothes enough so this is the perfect opportunity for you to do so. Yes, I've seen your closet. You have nice things."

I nodded and took her bag for her, "at least let me carry this for you. Emmett is meeting you in the lobby, right?"

With a nod, Rosalie turned off her own desk light and buttoned her coat around her. "Yes but really you don't have to carry my bag, boss."

"I insist, besides you are getting more and more backache and you shouldn't be carrying anything too heavy. You keep everything but the kitchen sink in this handbag." I chuckled and pressed the button on the elevator, waiting for her to catch up with me.

"I wouldn't get too sarcastic, I am the only one who knows what is happening tonight. You start a rumour in this place it can spread within fifteen minutes. Everyone knew I was pregnant before I had even told you."

"Okay, fine, I am not saying anything else." I stepped into the elevator and pressed the button for the lobby and watched as Rosalie stood next to me, folding her arms across her chest.

The two of us stood in silence until we touched down in the lobby.

"Try not to be an idiot, again boss." Rosalie turned back to face me as Emmett approached us.

"Hi Mr Cullen, how are you?" Emmett asked, harbouring his usual wide smile as he pressed up against Rosalie, kissing her hair.

"I'm well thank you, Emmett and yourself?"

"Yeah, same old you know? Come on, sweetheart I have a bath waiting for you at ours. I brought you one your favourite bomb things from that shop you like. Now the water has gone a really weird colour, I don't know if it's meant to do that but I'm sure you'll tell me if it's wrong. Thank you for carrying this, sir."

Emmett took Rosalie's bag from me and hauled it over his shoulder. I looked over at Rosalie, "you try to rest, tonight. Although it seems like you may not have a choice."

"He's a pain in the arse but he is _my_ pain in the arse." Rosalie took one of Emmett's hands in her own and shot me a smile before walking out towards the doors and out of them.

After saying goodbye to everyone left in the lobby, I headed out of the doors and back towards the Underground to head home.

_.xBx._

"Alice, when have you ever seen me put any perfume on?"

I coughed violently at the numerous scents Alice sprayed all over me. I wasn't a fan of either of them but she was trying to make an effort and I was ppreciative of it.

"Oh Bella, sush. You just have to suck this up for one night and then you can go back to your normal, unperfumed self tomorrow. Although you are lucky you don't have to wear anything. Now, how do you feel?"

"Uncomfortable but at least I can smell good. Are you going to leave my hair down?" I asked, running my fingers through my hair, twirling them around the curls that Alice had put in the ends.

"You look so much better with it down, you have such shiny hair and you need to show it off tonight. Besides you look tasteful, you look smart but casual."

"Well thank you, Alice." I let out a sigh of relief that all of it was over and started to clear up all the clothes cascaded on my bed. Alice was placing her makeup back into my makeup bag on the vanity.

"Is he going to bring you back, tonight Bells? If not I am more than happy to come and get you."

"Are you not staying around Jasper's tonight?"

"You come first, Bella. If you can't get home I can have a chill evening here and just wait for you text me."

"Thank you Al but it's okay. I am sure he will give me a lift back. He is picking me up in a fancy car after all. Do you think it will be a limo?"

"Either that or a Bentley. Look at you getting all starstruck. You are finally learning something from me. You are really attracted to Carlisle Cullen, huh?"

I used the sleeve of my jumper to cover my mouth, I could feel the blush rise to my cheeks as I hid the smirk behind my hand. "I can't help it."

Alice sat down on the bed and crossed her legs as she watched me close my wardrobe. "I know I have seen him and I don't think I would be, either. Bella, answer me this. If you get the job, are you really going to commit yourself to being an assistant to someone you find attractive? Won't that be difficult."

As I adjusted my jumper, I sat down beside her, placing my hands in my lap. "I'm trying not to think about it, the guy is a millionaire, Alice. There is no comparison between him and me. I am sure he leads a bachelor life and dates a different girl every night. Either that or he has a wife."

"Oh he had a wife, but they split over a year ago. I don't know what the reasons were but I'm sure it wasn't for any of the reasons that the magazines or newspapers stated."

"He had a wife?" I bit down on my lip, I squirmed against the mattress a little as it sink in.

"Who is no longer around, Bella, you have to be normal in this interview. If Carlisle Cullen was being 'off' with you this morning, maybe he just wants to make amends. It's not a big deal."

 _Yeah, much easier said than done_.

"Now, I am going to make you a camomile tea and you are going to try and relax, I can practically hear your brain clunking up there."

With a pat on my thigh, Alice walked out of my bedroom and headed to the kitchen. I lay down on my side as I waited for her, letting the silence relax me.

_.x._

 _I hope to write the dinner chapter either tonight or tomorrow!_

 _JR_


	6. Six

The Assistant

 _I am really a sucker for this story. I managed to get some chores done but this seemed a little too important. So here we go, just for you!_

 __.xBx.__

I watched Alice practically jump out of her skin when there was a buzz from the intercom in our apartment that evening. I stood up, brushed down the back of my jumper and put on my Ugg boots as she spoke with what I assumed to be Mr Cullen's driver on the other side.

"It's show time." Alice sang as she hung up the intercom. "Don't forget your bag, I put some pepper spray and a rape alarm in there just to be on the safe side."

I picked up the bag and immediately took out the items and threw them onto the sofa. "They won't be necessary, Al. Let's just stick with the safe word via the text, okay?"

I put on my jacket and walked over to the front door, adjusting my bag over my shoulder. "Now, please… Go and spend time with Jasper. I will be fine." I pinched her little cheek playfully and opened the door.

I gave her a final wave after I closed our front door, the nerves suddenly washed over me as I made my way down to the lobby and I was alone. I ran my fingers through my hair to stop them from shaking as I stood in the lift, shifting on the spot a few times. I looked up and watched as the lift sounded and the doors opened to reveal the lobby.

I walked outside and instantly saw a black limo parked down the road.

 _Of course he was going to bring a Limo._

I bit down on my lip and watched as a man with a hat stood up from leaning on it and bowed his head to me. I assumed it was the driver. "Good evening, Miss Swan. Mr Cullen apologises, he was at work later than usual today so he is going to meet you at restaurant. He sent me to make sure that you would get there okay. I'm Louie, his driver."

I smiled as the driver held out his hand, I shook it feebly and nods. "Okay, well thank you. Please call me Bella."

"It's a pleasure, Bella." Louie smiled and opened the back door for me. "Would you like me to put your bag in the boot?"

"No thank you. I can keep it with me." I replied. I climbed into the limbo, inching my legs close to my body as the leather seats cushioned me, beneath.

 _Even this limo smells brand new._

"Are you warm, Bella? Would you like me to put the air conditioning on?" Louie asked as he climbed into the driver's seat and lowered the blind separating the front and back of the limo to speak to me.

"No thank you." I fastened my seat belt and looked out the window at my apartment building, soon enough I was watching it move past as we made the way to the restaurant.

I wasn't ever the best at conversing in cars, when I had my own car I drove without any music our sound.

 _Man, I miss that vintage Chevy truck._

That made me a nervous passenger, especially with small talk. Small talk was hard enough in every day conversations without it being in a moving vehicle. Plus in this case it was _even_ harder to do with a driver of your potential boss as he was driving you to dinner with said boss.

_.x._

After a few more kind words were exchanged between Louie and me before we finally got to Prezzos. After coasting around the car park for a few moments, we found a space big enough. The restaurant was thriving, bright with various hanging lights outside with a long queue outside the main entrance.

"Would you like me to take you inside, Bella?" Louie asked, turning around to face me.

"No thank you, Louie. I'll be okay." I took off my seatbelt and opened the passenger door. The wind of the river line hitting me like a ton of bricks as I stood outside.

The city looked so beautiful at night, which was noticeable by the fact that the restaurant was right on the waterfront of the Thames. I closed the limo door and held my bag close to my chest as I walked up towards the restaurant. A very smart waiter came out and came running to me before I could reach the building.

"You must be Miss Swan, Mr Cullen is waiting for you and asked me to come and fetch you. Please come inside and I will take you to him." He gestured for me to walk ahead of him. I wasn't used to so many strangers knowing my name. Mr Cullen was a big deal and he must be a big deal in this restaurant it seemed. I could only oblige and walk into the restaurant, I couldn't help but overhear some moaning from people still standing in the queue. Either that or they were questioning between themselves who I was.

 _Believe me, right now I am asking myself who I am, too._

I stepped inside, instantly I used one arm to try and remove my coat. The waiter helped me with my other arm and balanced it over his arm. "Follow me, miss."

I kept my head down as I walked through the restaurant, my heart began to beat a little faster, and I could almost feel everyone's eyes on me as I followed the waiter through to the back.

"Hello Bella."

Mr Cullen stood up from his seat and shot me a wide smile, "thank you for bringing her inside, sir." I watched him walk around from his chair and slip the waiter a tip and hold my chair out for me to sit down. "I hope you like Italian food."

"I do. Thank you." I perched down on the seat, placed my bag on the floor as he pushed the seat forward closer to the table.

"What would you like to drink? I normally order some lemon water for the table but if you would like a cola or something then I can get the waiter to get that for you."

Mr Cullen sat back down in his seat, placed his napkin back onto his lap and rested his elbows on the table. I took my own and placed it on my lap and could only shrug my shoulders.

"Lemon water would be fine, thank you."

"That's great, please make yourself comfortable. I'm very sorry I wasn't able to meet you at your place, I just felt like that may have been a little inappropriate seeing as I hardly know you. I do hope that Louie was nice to you."

"Louie was a very kind driver, sir, he was very considerate and there's no need to apologize. The fact that you have invited me here to this beautiful restaurant makes up for it." I joked, running a hand through my hair.

"You have every right to wonder why I invited you here. I need to make another apology to you, just in case my behaviour at the end of our meeting seemed a little strange. There was no need for me to do that and I should have remained professional."

I took the jug of water from the table and poured some into my glass, after the glass filled I placed the jug down and took a sip from my glass. "I have to admit I was a little confused but you were not being unprofessional, sir. At least not to me. The whole meeting was built to be awkward considering what happened with us in the Underground though, right?"

"Please call me Carlisle, Bella. This is outside of work after all and we don't have to be professional now do we?"

 _I swear if I had any sex drive I would be completely aroused right now._

"No, I guess we aren't."

"Thank you for agreeing to meet me, here. I usually have the same meal here because what can I say? I find excitement in being boringly consistent and knowing what dish is the best. Here, feel free to take your time to look." Carlisle handed me his menu and poured some more lemon water for himself.

I looked over the menu, resting one of my legs over the other as I looked at the description of the dishes. "Everything looks so good. Aside from the one you usual order are there any other dishes that you have tried before that are nice?"

"I always liked the Gnocchi dish. The spinach and stilton one, it's really filling without the dish being too large. Anything with feta cheese for me is a plus, too."

"I guess I will go with the Gnocchi then. I have never been to this place, before. I don't come into the centre of the city much. I am usually a Nandos or Wagamama girl who orders by Deliveroo." I smiled bashfully and put down the menu.

 _You're doing okay, Bella. You're doing well._

_.xCx._

 _She's here, she's really here._

My underground brunette by day is lovely but now she has that hair down and sitting by candlelight I found myself wanting to hate her for doing this to me. By candlelight she was even more beautiful, how was that even possible? The more you see someone the more 'normal' they become, with Bella, it was the other way around.

The fact that she had agreed to see me, come here with my driver who she had never met and sit with me was something I was trying very hard not to smile so much about. That and the fact that she looked so lovely in her normal clothes than that in her interview suits.

I took the time to watch her as she glanced over the menu to pour myself some more water, my throat was getting drier and drier by the second.

"Did you have a good rest of the day? Since you had such an eventful morning I hope that you were able to have some down time."

Bella put the menu down and nodded, sipping some more of her water. "Yes, I just went for some lunch with my roommate, Alice and just spent a lot of time with her, today. This outfit and look is all down to her as she helped me try and look good for tonight. Apparently my usual jeans and shirts aren't suitable for a place like this."

 _You could come to dinner with me in a bin bag and I wouldn't give a damn._

"You could have come in those clothes. I just live in suits, its second nature for me to put them on. I'll admit, I found that putting on these clothes was actually really hard."

"There's nothing wrong with suits. Most men suit them so you can't really go wrong. Look Carlisle, is this some kind of second interview? Your assistant wasn't very clear as to why I needed to come, tonight. Not that I didn't want to come."

"Oh," I picked up my glass, again and took a larger gulp. "Well I actually wanted to offer you the job, Bella. Your CV was by far the most impressive but in person it was an extra bonus for me."

"Really?" Bella jerked in surprise, the napkin fell from her lap. "Oh no." I tried not to smirk at the fact that she had rose to her feet and had bent down to get the napkin.

"Yes, Bella. Can you start next week? I mean new employees usually start on a new week, I do, however have a conference to attend to up North at the end of week. If you would like to come with me to that I would be grateful. Rosalie is getting to the point where it's getting difficult for her to travel."

Bella reappeared from under the table, she placed her hands on the top as she moved her eyes up to meet mine. "You want me to accompany you up North? Alone? Just the two of us?

"Only if you want to." I offered her my hand and helped her get to her feet. "You don't have to, Bella there really is no pressure. I was just going to ask my sister to come with me to fill in for Rosalie if need be."

"Oh. Well that seems okay, I guess. Sorry I'm still in shock at getting the job."

"It's okay." I placed up a hand to stop her.

 _You don't have to apologize, Bella. You never have to apologize for anything._

"So why did you want to invite me here to tell me? I would have been just as surprised over the phone, plus it may have helped that if I had fallen at home you wouldn't have seen me." I watched a slight blush rise to her cheek as she smiled bashfully to herself. I couldn't find that blush anymore adorable.

"Yes well I felt really bad that I behaved that way at the end of the interview so I wanted to make it up to you, somehow. Even if you weren't mad, which you weren't, I still wanted to make sure that everything was okay. To make sure that you were okay."

I lowered my eyes a little, afraid I had said too much.

"That was really nice of you. You have been nothing but nice to me Carlisle, I really don't deserve it. Although you did plant me to the floor this morning so I will take the dinner with both hands." Bella laughed and rested her elbows on the table.

"I am perfectly okay with that, too. I do give these guys a lot of custom, here so they do treat me well. Sorry if it is all new to you, if you want people to stop staring, I can get the food put in a doggy bag and we can escape out to the riverfront."

Bella squirmed a little in her seat and bit down on her bottom lip, "Carlisle can I ask you something?"

"Of course, anything Bella."

"This is beginning to feel more and more like, _less_ than a work dinner and more of a … Date?"

"It does? I can assure you that this isn't a date, Bella. If you want I can take your number and never call you again to prove my point." I laughed, trying to keep the mood light. It was harder and harder to control myself around Bella. If I am like this now, I can't imagine what I am going to be like when she is working with me.

"Oh, that's good then."

I looked at the waiter who had approached the table, he took out a little notepad and a pencil and took down our orders.

"If you don't mind, Bella I usually order some olives and Italian bread as a starter. It's more than enough for two people if you would like to share that with me?"

"That sounds great, I don't really eat a lot of olives though but I'd be more than happy to take the bread off of your hands."

"Deal, we will have one of those as well, please?" I asked the waiter. After he had walked away, I refilled our glasses with some more water.

_.xBx._

After Carlisle and I left the restaurant, I put the doggy bags with the rest of my main course and dessert into my bag and put my coat over myself. I looked out onto the Thames and rested myself over the railing for a moment, letting the breeze hit me as I glanced down at the water, beneath.

"It's beautiful isn't it?" Carlisle's voice took me out of my trance. I lifted myself up and hummed in response.

"I really need to spend more time in the city. I mean if the food and the views are anything like this anywhere else then I really am missing out."

"I have spent most of my life, here. It never ceases to amaze me how beautiful it gets. You'd think if you spent enough time in one place you'd feel bored but never with London. Anyway, have you come far from home? Your family, do they live far away?"

"In Hampshire, in the New Forest to be exact. My father lives there, my mother walked out on us when I was four. I haven't spoken to her since so I don't know where she is."

"Oh I am very sorry to hear that, Bella."

"These things happen. I suppose she wasn't ever cut out to be a mother, my father never spoke badly of her so I don't know exactly what happened in their relationship. I know that he is still in love with her, she was the love of his life and he has never found anyone else." I walked slowly back to the car, keeping my hand on the railing and running it along the cold metal.

"I can understand how something like that can happen. It can take a long time for people to start dating again, I got that feeling when I wasn't with my wife anymore. I'm assuming you know about that, my personal life is plastered all over the papers so nothing is secret."

"Well, I only found out about it from Alice, she reads all the magazines. I have actually never read up on you, for the interview I only went on your publications main websites. I wanted to read more about your successes than your personal life."

Carlisle fell silent and smiled to himself, he greeted Louie as we got to the limo.

"Thank you for staying, Louie. Please take the limo back to the depot and go home for the night. I have had a change of mind, I will be driving Bella back to her place myself."

"Very well, sir. It was a pleasure again, Miss Bella. I will report to you in the morning in time for work Mr Cullen. Have a lovely rest of the evening."

I stood away from the car, Carlisle and I watched Louie leave the car park with the limo and I looked back at my new boss once the vehicle disappeared from sight.

"You are not taking the Underground again are you?"

"Not unless I want to run over anymore brunettes, I think it would be better if I have Louie take care of me from now on. I guess I better be getting you home, too. You don't want your roommate to worry."

"Oh she is with her boyfriend tonight. He just happens to be her boss so she is, shall we say, reaping the perks of the job. I made her, she was going to stay with me but there wasn't much point. I will text her when I get back inside, though. There will be a search party after me if I don't."

Carlisle held out his arm for me to link through and I took it, he took me to his own car and opened up the passenger door for me. I climbed inside and placed my bag on my lap.

"So where am I heading to?" Carlisle asked as he got into the driver's side.

"Brixton. You don't have to drop me outside my building, it is down a narrow alleyway and Louie learned the hard way coming out. If I direct you to the main street, I can get out and walk the rest of the way."

"I must insist that you let me stay parked until you're out of sight, then. For my own paranoia."

"Okay then. Thank you for the dinner, it really was lovely." I fastened my seatbelt and looked out onto the city as we got moving, trying to keep my eyes away from the man who had gave me one of the best evenings I've had in a long time.

"It was my pleasure, Bella. I'm glad I acted like an idiot and made you come out to dinner with me. If you do decide on whether or not you want to come to the convention can you ring up the main building and they will pass you through to Rosalie. Can you let me know before Thursday just so I can let my sister know to stand by in case she is needed?"

"Of course I will."

_.xCx._

I pulled up at a street that Bella had directed me to after our night at the restaurant. I had never liked the idea of the area of Brixton, now, driving through it I hated it even more. The place looked awful at night, god knows what is actually looked like in the day. One of my employees lived in Brixton before he moved to Hammersmith, he told me that the people were constantly staring at you as you walked by and unless you were in a clique of friends you may as well never exist. I was used to luxury but even I hated the idea of Bella walking around here on her own.

"Are you sure you're going to be okay, Bella?" I had fallen down the rabbit hole numerous times tonight with Bella, which is why she had asked me about whether it had been a date. I had never taken Rosalie to dinner, we had always had dinner lunches and I never picked any of my favourite restaurants for it. Of course I was not going to Bella that.

"I will be fine, Carlisle. Honestly, you don't have to stay."

"Oh I'm staying, Bella. I will not hear another word about it."

Bella sighed as she unfastened her seatbelt and opened the passenger door. "Thank you for tonight, Carlisle. I hope you get home safely."

"Thank you, Bella. Take care of yourself and sweet dreams."

I watched her smile for the last time and close the passenger door behind her. I turned off the engine and watched her walk towards an alleyway, I took out my cell and checked my unread notifications to pass a couple of minutes. By the time I looked up from my phone she had disappeared.

After a few more seconds, just to make sure that she wasn't going to reappear, I started the engine back up and headed home.


	7. Seven

The Assistant

 _I am back again. Are you all still with me?_

 _Another free day, I have a 50 hour week at work next week, so it will be a week until I write the next chapter._

 _Thank you for continuing to share your thoughts, it really spurs me on._

_.xBx._

I let out a huge sigh of relief as I walked into my apartment building. I may have told a little porky pie to Carlisle and said that I walked around here at night often. I really shouldn't have done that but I couldn't spend any more time with him. Not when all I could think about was how good he liked under the candle's glow and how great he smelled. The man was alluring as hell and I bet you anything he knew it, too.

 _I sure as hell do._

When it comes to walking at home at night, I have always been with two friends or more. Plus, I had to leave the pepper spray and rape alarm at home didn't I? I really wasn't doing myself any favours.

Once in the safety of the lobby, I reached into my bag for my keys as I walked into the elevator. Pressing the door for my floor, I clipped up my hair, letting the air hit the back of my neck. It was a welcome sensation as it had been very warm in the restaurant. I looked up at the dial as it started to move up each floor.

At the sound of the ding, I walked out to the corridor to my front door. Stopping at the door I fumbled around in my bag for my keys and eventually managed to find them and get the door open.

"Okay so I didn't go to Jasper's. I think it's best if we spent more time, apart."

"Holy J-" I jumped out of my skin at the sound of Alice's voice, thankfully the wall saved me from plummeting to the floor.

"Oh Bella, I'm so sorry." Alice rushed over, places her hands on my shoulders. I watched her expression change from concern to a frown. "You walked home, didn't you? Please tell me you didn't walk home, alone."

"I didn't." I stood up, breathing in and out gently to bring my heart rate back to normal. "I asked Carlisle to drop me off before the alleyway since it's hard to get any cars around here."

"No wonder you're a terrified mess. Bella if you are planning on going through the alleys alone, again please text me. Even if I was at Jasper's I'd come back and see you get home. Now come on, let me take your bag and you sit down. I think a glass of wine is in order." Alice took my arm and led me to the sofa and sat me down.

"Alice, you know I don't-"

"Only a tiny bit, Bella. Just to calm you down a little better. Now shush and tell me all about it." Alice put my bag in my room and headed back to the kitchen and started getting out some glasses from the cupboards.

"His driver picked me up. His name was Louie. The man has his own on-call driver and a limo, Alice."

"As we knew he would." Alice replied, coming back into the room and handing me a glass and sitting down with her own. "Was he nice?"

"Carlisle or the driver?"

"Well both. I have been sitting here, bored and waiting Bella. Give me every detail." Alice smirked, crossing her legs underneath her.

"Both were nice. Carlisle was, very gentlemanly and apologetic about the end of the interview. I think he thought he had caused me offence. I told him that he hadn't. The food at Prezzo was great, I had the Gnocchi after he had recommended it to me. I couldn't eat all of it, I have a doggy bag in my handbag with the left over Gnocchi and my dessert in it."

"You had dessert, too?"

I nodded, "I know and I never eat dessert. Since he was buying …" I stopped, smirking. "I am not normally like that but when does someone like me get a chance to have dinner with Carlisle Cullen? I had to make the use of the opportunity."

Alice nodded, "absolutely. Besides you're the kind of person that would find some way to make it up to him anyway. I'm sure if there was a coffee date you'd get out your card."

"Exactly." I nodded, taking a small sip of wine.

"Is he as handsome as he is all over the magazines? Or is he better in real life?" Alice placed her glass down and reached for her phone in her back pocket. Turning off the notification vibration before looking back at me. "Damn Jasper, he just can't live life without me."

I rolled my eyes and shook my head, "don't apologize, Alice. The guy is obviously crazy about you. To answer your questions, yes. If there was any chance I knew whether I was attracted to a guy I would be attracted to him. Besides, I don't even know how attraction feels. How would I know?"

As I lowered my eyes, I felt Alice's hands on mine. "Bella, believe me. When the time is right you will know. When the person is the right one, you won't care. You won't be uncomfortable, you will want everything and it's important that you go for it. You let yourself go. Plus if it happens with a successful man like Carlisle then even better."

I felt the blush rise to my cheeks, I fell silent. I had never had any thoughts about being intimate with a man. To be honest it has been easier to believe that no one wanted me so that I could block thoughts of wanting anyone else out. It didn't make me feel like I was missing out on anything that way.

"Trust me, Bell. It's going to be okay. I wish I had waited for someone like Jasper, it would have made my first sexual experience _so_ worthwhile. I am not the type of person who could wait for something like that, especially for a long amount of time. I do respect you so much for that, Bella."

"Thank you, Ali. Believe me, though if I am completely honest, I do find myself feeling trapped. Trapped by my own choice, as stupid as that sounds."

"No, nothing you can ever say could be stupid, Bella." Alice released my hands and picked up her glass, again. "What did you guys talk about?"

"Just the general stuff. He _did_ ask me whether I wanted to come to some kind of convention with him on Friday. Rosalie is too pregnant to go and Carlisle will invite his sister if I decide not to. I need to kind of tell him soon about what I decide."

"You a _re_ going to go, though right?"

"Alice … I don't know-"

"Oh Bella. When will you get a chance to go to a five star hotel which I am guessing is what the convention is held in and have some time away? A change of scene? Bella, go, just for the swimming pools and the bathtubs that are bigger than the size of this room. I have only been to a five star hotel once, Bella and believe me I have never forgotten it."

"I will have to work, Alice. I can't just swim and bathe all day."

"I know but these conventions can sometimes be two to three days long. Did he say whereabouts it was being held?"

"Up north, somewhere."

"So it _will_ be more than a day because of how you have to travel. You are coming from London after all. Bella please say you'll go. If Carlisle is as gentlemanly as you say he is, he is hardly going to jump your bones. Besides if you're working, he still won't be able to."

"Oh Ali. Stop. You really should go to Jasper's to control yourself."

"Oh I'd be doing the opposite there, Bella." Alice laughed. "So if you went up on Friday that would be your first work day, then?"

"Yeah, if I don't go then I start as normal on Monday."

"Perfect. If you went on the convention then you can break the ice. Be a little bit more comfortable around him. It might make it a little easier on you."

"Okay, Ali. Fine I will call him in the morning and let him know. Since you have wanted me to do this so much, you can pack for me. You know I am useless at packing."

Alice sighed and drank the last of the wine in her glass, "Okay but I am _not_ touching your delicates. You pack that shit before I pack anything else, okay?"

"Deal." I smiled, victorious and finished my own wine.

I wasn't going to tell Alice that I had already made the choice to go with Carlisle, I'll let her think she had won the argument. It was fun to see the bright smile on her face when her sometimes overbearing competitiveness comes full-circle. Plus, I loved her too much as a friend to piss her off. Alice pissed was not a good combination.

_.xCx._

"You did _what_?"

I groaned, I had remained in the same position with my head on my desk for about twenty minutes once I had got into work. I made the mistake of telling Rosalie about the fact that I had invited Bella to the convention on Friday.

"Carlisle, forgive me for being blunt but were you having a think-with-your-dick moment? What have I told you about being a _guy_ before being an employer?"

"Rosalie, I did no such thing. I had a message from my sister saying that she couldn't make it. I didn't want to be alone because, if I could do any of the note-taking and remembering things, I wouldn't need an assistant now would I?"

With a sigh, Rosalie sat down at the chair opposite my desk. "You don't know much about this girl, Carlisle. What's to say that she won't use the convention as an excuse to have a jolly? An excuse to have a social life and not actually do what she is going to be paid to do."

"I already know she isn't like that Rose. I may have my moments where I think with other things besides my head, at least you might think that but Bella is far too shy. I believe that she will do a good job. You can tell me you got it right if I'm proven wrong, okay?"

I sighed and lifted my head. I turned on my computer and opened up my email box. "Besides, I doubt she will want to come anyway. I just gave her the option, Rose. It's not like forced her into doing anything."

Rosalie hummed, unconvinced and opened her folder on my desk. "Anyway, you have another emptier day today compared to tomorrow. I think we should try and get everything done before Friday."

Our conversation was interrupted by my phone ringing. I picked up the receiver and held it to my ear.

"Carlisle Cullen."

"Mr Cullen…" I froze. I knew that voice from miles away. I shot a look at Rosalie and tried to compose myself.

"Bella. How are you?"

"I'm okay, thank you. I just wanted to ring you about the convention you were telling me about. The one taking place on Friday. I would like to come with you, if that's still okay?"

I fought hard to stop the grin from appearing on my face at what she said. I lowered my eyes, away from Rosalie's gaze. "That's great news, Bella. Thank you for letting me know. I will see you on Friday. I will come and get you and we can get the train together? Would that be alright? I can send Louie instead if you'd prefer?"

"No you don't need to send Louie, I think we can both get out heads around getting the train up North. What time did you want me to be ready for?"

"Our train leaves at eight in the morning so probably prepare to be ready for about seven just in case there are delays or problems."

"Great. I will see you, then. Have a good day."

"You too, Bella. Bye now."

I placed the receiver back and turned back around to face Rosalie. I smirked at her expression, "you look like you have just sucked a lemon, Rose."

"This is dangerous ground, Carlisle. Even for you. You _say_ this is professional but I can practically see the shit-eating grin that is threatening to grace your face right now. You like this girl. You're attracted to her and I'm pissed. I'm pissed because I will be giving birth to my boy and missing all the good shit that is going on here. This is drama waiting to happen and this place needs some drama."

"Rosalie, you won't be my assistant anymore. I know you love to worry about me."

"Well you keep on gloating, boss. I care more about that girl because she seems the sort to be easily led and I don't think that's any fault of her own. You haven't been with anyone serious since Elizabeth, Carlisle. Are you sure you're ready to delve into the potential taboo drama of dating your assistant?"

"I'm not going to date her." Rosalie held up her hand and stood up from the chair.

"Let's just get this work done so you can free time for your 'convention'." With a small smirk, she picked up her work book and headed out of my office and to her own desks to answer the phone.

In the freedom of my empty office, I smiled wider than I had in a long time. I stood up and walked over to the window and looked out onto the city. Just as the sun came out I found myself feeling happier than I had done in the longest time. I didn't have to wait until Monday to see Bella. I wish I wasn't so excited about this. I want to be professional.

I have spent too much time doing that, for once, I wanted to try and be a little more selfish.

_.xBx._

Friday finally came.

I had been doubting myself for two days.

I wasn't sure if I had made the right decision, this is what always happens. Whenever I wanted to do anything and a decision was made, I would question and doubt myself. Even if it was the right thing to do I was always trying to talk myself out of it.

 _Who does that?_

"Bella, your brain … It's clunking. What's going on?" Alice asked, packing the very last of my things into the little wheelie case she has let me borrow.

"Nothing, I am just thinking about whether this is a good idea …"

"Oh Isabella Swan, not again." Alice zipped up the case forcefully and stood upright, places her hands on her hips. "You always do this, the amount of opportunities you have let pass you by because of your own mind is staggering. You can't and you shouldn't have a low opinion of yourself. You need to find self-worth because you are such a lovely person. Much easier said than done, I know."

I sighed, I moved away from Alice and got my coat out of my wardrobe. "I'll see someone about it someday when I am willing to see the skeletons in my closet. Right now, I am not ready to do that."

"Okay. I will be here whenever you _are_ ready." Alice smiled sadly and picked up the case from the bed. "I will go and put this by the front door for you."

I nodded and closed the wardrobe. I heard her go out of the room. Taking one last look in the mirror on my vanity, brushed my hand through the ends of my hair and walked out into the living room.

"I will text you when I get to the conference, okay?" I said to Alice as I made my way to the front door.

"I know you will, I trust you."

"You inviting Jasper around to stay whilst I'm away. I know how you hate to be alone." I wrapped my arms around her and hugged her. I needed to keep the atmosphere light, whenever we spoke about my state of mind it dragged everything down. It was such a mood killer, no one understood it and neither did I. I knew that something was wrong but I found distraction in trying to keep myself distracted. In this case, a new job helped somewhat.

I do worry though, in case Carlisle had an effect on my mind. I was not willing to subject anyone I ever dated to my mind, it's bad enough that my closest friend knew about it and worried.

Alice placed her hands on my bag and sighed softly, "You know me too well. I don't like being here when you're not, Bella. You are always the sensible and more practical one. You are much better in a crisis-"

Our goodbye was cut short when our intercom buzzed. I pulled away and frowned at Alice. I had told Carlisle to meet me where he had dropped me off the other night. Alice turned and walked over to the intercom and picked up the receiver. I saw her watch me before she buzzed someone up.

"Who was that?" I asked, picking up my case and walking to her.

"It's Carlisle, he is coming to meet you up here, himself. He doesn't want you walking the alleyways alone." Alice smirked and opened our front door.

"It's daytime though, Alice."

"Don't fight it, Bella. He cares. Remember he's a millionaire and he cares. Plus he's your boss, it's hard to find many employers who give a shit about you." Alice ran her hand through my hair. "Trust me on this, Bella. I want you to have someone with you and I have to side with him on this one."

"You're lucky I like you." I narrowed my eyes at her and took my case and headed out into the doorway. "Close the door and bring Jasper home with you at the end of the day." I kissed her cheek and walked to the elevator where Carlisle was going to be coming from.

I was very much aware that a millionaire shouldn't see my apartment, it was enough to make anyone cry. Hopefully now I may be earning some more money so Alice and I could move somewhere better, or we could do up our existing place. I heard the lift ding and I saw Carlisle standing in the corner, who looked up at me and smiled softly.

"Good morning, Bella. It's nice to see you, again."

"You too, Carlisle." I replied. I picked up my case and walked into the lift.

"Here let me take that for you. I left my things in the lobby so I would have the extra hands to help." Carlisle took my case from me and pressed the button for the ground floor.

"I hope you don't mind that I came to see you. I guess I still have the other night on my mind."

"It's okay." I replied, it did bother me a little just because I was self-conscious of how my building must look to someone like him. However, once we were out of this building it would soon go away.

It's my first day of work and I'm travelling up North.

 _What's next?_

_.x._

 _I will see you next week, my lovelies. Have a good one! x_


	8. Eight

The Assistant

 _It's so good to be back! Hello lovely people!_

 _Now just as a note as the beautiful Goldielover has touched on in their review… This story will touch on depression, low self-esteem and low self-worth. Due to these subjects there may be descriptions of anxiety and depression. This is extremely personal as it is what I have battling for many years but I do not want to turn Bella into a victim or make this an incredibly tense or emotional story. I want to make this real and relevant in some way. I need to keep myself strong and upright each day and writing stories and releasing my creativity helps with that._

 _There is help, there are ways to battle and struggles make you stronger and flaws make us all human (and hell of a lot more interesting!). So just a warning that there will be touching upon these topics in the coming chapters and you are more than happy to turn away and not read anymore if that is your choice and I will respect that._

 _Also, lastly, apologies for not updating sooner, was very tired and have been picking up extra work where I can. Plus I had a little block that I have so much when it comes to my stories but I am fighting through it today._

_.xBx._

Lifting my suitcase handle, I made my way to the underground with Carlisle. It was nice that he had come for me, as much as I may have been letting on that I knew what I was doing when it came to the numerous underground links around the city, I didn't have a clue. Let's just say I could only lie to a certain extent, plus the idea of lying to my new boss was not something I was going to be able to sleep at night about.

"It looks like all our trains are on time this morning." I looked over at Carlisle, he seemed a little fidgety this morning since we had left my apartment building. I could see his eyes moving around a little too much to the scenery around us. Well, I say scenery, this was Brixton after all. There's not too much to look at and you dare look at some people in the eye in case of what may happen.

"That's good." I replied, not really knowing how to respond. Since he was feeling a little tired, or maybe even nervous about today I decided to change topic. Besides, Carlisle looked like he was about to have a cow inside his head and it would make it easier on both of us.

"I haven't been outside of the South East before, I can't help but be a little excited."

"Really? Well I'm glad. How come you haven't left? Just never had the opportunity?"

I shrugged. "I just never got the chance, my family weren't big on travelling. My father suffered from a fear of heights and my mother got travel sick. Not a good combination to be honest so we just decided not to go anywhere."

"Oh, I do hope you get the chance to have a _real_ holiday someday. There's nothing like having a rest in the sun. I used to do it a lot but not so much anymore. I guess having charge of five publications can do that to a man."

Carlisle took my case as we reached the stairs to the Underground entrance, I let out a small smile at the gesture and followed down the stairs behind him.

"Thank God you are a young woman who travels heavy. We will be at the hotel for a few days, maybe even four. These things tend to drag on for longer than they need to. A lot of information will be given to you at once but if you take notes there shouldn't be a problem. I want you to tell me, though. I want you to tell me if you need a break even if it is not in the scheduled ones on the itinerary, okay?"

I nodded, glancing at the board above our heads. The next train was due in six minutes. "Of course."

Carlisle released the bags and placed them on the ground, stretching his neck for a moment, before going to sit down on some chairs close to us. "So, what did you bring for the trip? I am hoping you brought something since I'm, well let's just say I am not the best travelling partner."

I sat down beside him and took a sip of my water, I held out the bottle to offer him some and with a raise of his hand, refusing it, I put the water back into my bag. "I am easily bored, I think you may have some competition. I have brought some puzzle books but I am pretty sure I will complete them all in good time."

"I will trade your puzzle books for my pack of cards. I make it a tradition to play games on my own to pass the time. Although, it makes me incredibly antisocial so I may have to rethink my plan. Can we share a puzzle at least?"

"Whatever happened to just talking? I mean, I can talk for the both of us when it comes to the right subject. Besides, we should … At least, _try_ to get to know each other a little better. I will need to when I work with you more, anyway." I clasped my hands together on my lap. Being so close to him made me nervous, nervous that I found myself struggling to be truthful, plus I could feel my palms heat up.

Carlisle thought for a moment before nodding, "yes that does make sense, Bella. Besides, I can only take a game of 'Patience' so long before it kicks my arse. I guess talking about card games is not the best way to start the conversation, right?"

I smiled at the hint of blush that appeared on Carlisle's smooth skin. I opened my mouth to answer when a noise from the tunnel in the distance stopped me. I watched the approaching train approach us and come to a stop. "Right, first train of the morning … Let's do this." I fetched my suitcase and hopped onto the train after him and sat down on one of the nearest seats. The heat and the overpowering smell of body odour instantly filled my nose, making me feel a little queasy. Not only did these blasted things make you feel claustrophobic as hell, they also stank to high heaven, too.

I looked up at Carlisle who was standing next to me, looking around the train car curiously. "You have never been on the Underground on this side of town have you? I can tell by your eyes, any wider and they will bug out of your head."

Carlisle smiled sheepishly and rested against the pole he had his hand on. "I'm sorry, you're right, the last thing I should do is piss anyone off. Besides, I was thinking that it was actually nice, nice for once that people don't recognize who I am, here."

I nodded in understanding. "I can understand that. Please sit next to me, you're making the train look untidy. Besides we have a few stops left yet before _more_ walking." I smirked his eyes shift from left to right as he thought for a moment.

Carlisle obliged, perching down on the edge of the seat beside me. I bit down on the inside of my cheeks to stop from laughing at how he fidgeted nervously against the seat. For a professional millionaire, he had moments of social awkwardness that I found strangely _adorable_.

 _Adorable? Right okay I am going with that._

I looked up at the writing sign, watching as the names of stations went by on it as a woman's voice on the tannoy announced them. "So Bella, what other interests do you have? Outside of your career aspirations that is?"

"I always wanted to be a creative designer for a magazine. I know, I don't have a degree in design or anything but I have always loved the idea of being the person in charge of that. Overseeing the work from the plans to the reality. It just looks like fun."

"Well our creative directors don't have any degrees either, they have just been in the company and its publications for a good few years. Their experience outweighs any academic ability. With us, you don't have to be impressive on paper, we value experience either internally within the company or in job roles outside the company." Carlisle looked at me and smirked, a little blush rising to his cheeks. "Sorry, it sounds like I am interviewing you all over again, perhaps if I had interviewed you this way I wouldn't have had to feel like such a jerk."

I shook my head, I didn't know how long he was going to keep mentioning his behaviour at the interview but I was so past it by this point. It was pointless to keep blaming yourself for something that you have already been forgiven for. "Like I said, you're fine, Carlisle."

"Okay. I am glad you can have the chance to do that with us down the line, if you wanted to that is. Oh here we are." Carlisle nodded to the sign ahead of us signalling that our station was the next stop. He stood up, stroking down the front of his suit jacket and held onto both our cases with one hand. I stood up and waited next to him by the door.

Trying to stay close to him, to curb my own claustrophobia, we made our way up from the Underground to the overground up above. We went through various ticket barriers and headed towards the trains that were heading for journeys up north. I glanced at the large clock face in the middle of the station ceiling and looked toward Carlisle. "Do you think we should grab some coffee? Or maybe something to eat as well? We have time."

Carlisle followed my gaze to the clock and hums, "I think I was a little too eager to get here early. Let me recommend you a hot drink from 'Pret a Manger'? Their new coconut lattes are great." Carlisle smiled brightly as he led us over to the outside seating area of the shop. "Here, you sit. I got the drinks." Before I could open my mouth or raise a hand to talk, he cut me off "I insist."

Sighing a little in defeat, I placed my elbow on the table and rested my head on it. I looked around the station as I waited for him to come back. I glanced at various commuters rushing around to get from place to place letting my mind wander. I sat wondered there were going or where they were going home. I turned my gaze to inside the restaurant, I saw a couple of people raise their heads and watch me curiously, I frowned when their gazes turned into stares. Before I could contemplate what to do or whether I was going to do anything at all, Carlisle came back with a tray. He placed it in front of me on the table, his expression changed as he saw mine. "Hey are you okay? What's wrong?"

"I have just … There are some people in here that are staring at me and I don't know why." I peered around Carlisle as he sat down to the people again and saw that they had bowed their heads.

 _Did I just imagine that?_

"Oh, well I can safely say that it has nothing to do with you. I get looked at a lot by people who know of me. I am no stranger to the papers, Bella even though I have never actually given an interview to any of them. My life is still a topic of interest. Especially the people I am around with, too. We can go if you want, I don't want you to be uncomfortable."

"No it's okay, you sitting there blocks them out, anyway. It won't ruin anything … You being with me, will it?"

"I wouldn't care even if there was the slightest chance of you ruining _anything_ , Bella. My family have worked incredibly hard to get to where we are and we have loyal clientele. Let them print what they want, let them talk, I know almost everything that is printed is either lies or fabricated truths."

I shot a grateful smile at him before picking up my cup, I looked at the sandwiches he had on the side of the mugs and smiled to myself. "I hope you like egg mayonnaise."

"It's my favourite, actually." I picked up the sandwich and tore off the plastic seal and took one half in my hands. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Carlisle opened his own sandwich and took a bite from it as he relaxed further against the chair. "I didn't realize we could just have the one underground stop to get to the northern trains. We will have to make a change at Manchester but then after that we should be there in about four and half hours maximum."

"That's okay. I forgot how easily it was to get from place to place around here, even I got up too early this morning. I couldn't sleep so I had to get moving. There was no hope for me being able to have a doze a little longer. I think we both got a little too eager in our travel plans, huh?"

"I guess so." Carlisle smiled and finished one half of the sandwich and took out his phone. "Damn emails, I swear they never stop." Carlisle scrolled through the phone, analysing the screen intently as I took a sip of coffee. The coconut taste with the coffee was slightly weird but they went together well. I was not a big coffee fan in general, I preferred to have milk based drinks like lattes and mochas.

In the silence, I took out my own phone and smiled at the text from Alice wondering how I was. I sent a short and brief reply before I put my phone away and glancing at Carlisle.

"Carlisle?"

"Yes, Bella." He put his phone away and looked at me.

"Could you teach me how to play it? 'Patience'?"

_.xCx._

Bella Swan was one-of-a-kind.

Not only did she agree to come with me to the conference but she was making this journey all the better for me. I was a nervous wreck, I was trying to be talkative, hell I was trying so hard to be interesting but I was falling over my words when was babbling. I didn't know what she was thinking, she didn't let on to anything. Rosalie was a hard one to make conversation with, usually she was all over her phone. If she wasn't messaging Emmett, she was adding pictures all over her social networking sites. I couldn't imagine anything worse than documenting my life over the internet for everyone to see. It was bad enough that my 'life' was all over the papers, or at least the life that the papers want me to live, a life full of scandal and intrigue and potential ways to put my position in my career at risk. Bella actually wanted me to teach her card games, not only did I teach her 'Patience' I also taught her a couple of two-player games, too.

After our coffees I took our cases and walked to the departing barriers to the northern train. Just as I was about to reach for our tickets, a guard from the side gate waved me over. "Good morning, Mr Cullen. Please come on through."

I still had yet to get used to people knowing me at all. I liked to be private and when I worked I was able to block everyone out, at least the people that I didn't work with that is. I shot the man a smile and allowed Bella to walk first in front and I followed behind.

"You're like a celebrity. Without the screaming teenagers, that is." Bella smiled and came to a stop next to me.

"We need to head up to the front of the train, I … Rosalie arranged us first class transportation on both trains."

Bella's expression softened and she frowned softly and looked further up the train. "You mean we, we are going to be one of those people? The people who look at the others in economy with a sympathetic look on their faces? The type of people who look at people like me and wonder why I am not with them in the fancy carriages?"

"Bella … It's okay, we can go and sit in economy if that's what you want…" I was worried, I couldn't read her expression. Hell I could never read any of her expressions, how can a pair of eyes so deep as hers not show one inch of emotion? Was this a guy thing or was Bella Swan going to be my kryptonite?

"Are you joking? I have never travelled first class in a _nything_ before. Lets' go!" Bella sang and practically skipped down to the front of the train.

 _Well thankfully she wasn't mad at me._

I couldn't help but laugh and followed her to the front of the train, she had come to a halt in front of a train guard, his gaze slowly turned from her to me. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr Cullen. Word got around that you would be travelling with us this morning. Please allow me to take your luggage and I can have one of my colleagues escort you to your seat."

"That's okay, thank you. My assistant and I can find our way. Good morning to you, too." I stepped onto the train and followed Bella through the aisles.

"What are our seat numbers?" Bella asked, turning herself a little in the narrow space to face me. I handed her my paper ticket and she looked it over, still leading us through the carriage. "It should be the next one along."

Bella stepped into the next carriage and heard her gasp slightly at the larger booth seating you got with first class train travel. There was a lot more room and there was a chance for people to have a nap with a pillow and a blanket if need be. These were long journey trains and they needed to be suitable for longer distance travel.

Bella sat down at the booth farthest at the front and put down her handbag on one of the seats. "I could get used to this. I'm sorry, I know I must sound like a complete groupie and fan girl right now or whatever it is they call the squealing types of people but this …Is …Amazing!"

"I'm glad you like it. I have to admit all this luxury stuff, even though I am grateful for it and the position that I am in, does get boring after a while. Sometimes I would just like to ride a train like anyone else … Like the way you do, you know?"

"Why?" Bella rested one of her legs over the other one and took a sip of her water.

"I don't like to be separated from other people. I like to be considered normal, just because someone has celebrity status or has a lot of money doesn't mean they like to live in the lap of luxury. I don't like people fussing, have to impress me in any way. I have seen a lot of fake people and fake personalities to get what they want, Bella."

I sat down opposite her and rested my head against the back of it with a sigh. Bella bit her lip, was silent for a moment and leaned closer to me. "I can understand that. I admire that, Carlisle. As weird as that might sound, I like that you're not like other 'celebrities'."

"Thank you, Bella."

_.xBx._

The train ride was glorious.

I may be the ordinary human in this scenario but I was living a luxury that I hadn't even seen before. I never even knew that trains could be this … _nice_. I was used to tin can seating and having to fight for a seat every day you wanted to go anywhere. There were guards checking in on us and catering staff that were there to feed us. They probably wanted the publicity for the company because Carlisle had _that_ much influence over that but I wanted to turn a blind-eye to that. Thanks to Carlisle I was having an experience that I didn't even know I could ever have before. I was going to make the most of it. I could tell that Carlisle was starting to get a little annoyed with it. With one of the guards, he had to pay him to leave us alone. The man was coming around every twenty minutes like clockwork to see us in our booth, at least the man was committed to being a kiss-arse.

I took a bite of the food that the catering lady had left, I had felt like a pig though as Carlisle had hardly touched any food since having that sandwich back in London. He was silently completing his puzzle book and he had been for the last hour so. We had run out of any conversation for the moment as we hardly had a lot of inspiration being alone in a train booth. I was struggling to find an opportunity to talk about anything. Until now.

"You're not hungry?"

Carlisle looked up at me and smiled softly, shaking his head. "No, Bella. I am fine. I am not a fan of food on public transport. Blame airplane food and for that. Are you okay? Can I get you anything else?"

I shook my head, "No I am going to finish off all this food if I'm not careful. I will probably break out of this skirt before long."

Carlisle snorted, "We can call back our guard for that. I think he has a little thing for you, I am sure he will fight tooth and bone to get his damsel another skirt." He let out a chuckle, I found myself frowning at what he had said.

"A thing? What does that even mean? He's a train guard and you're a celebrity in his eyes. I think it's you he has the man crush on." I tried to fight off the thought of anyone finding me attractive, it made me feel physically sick. It always had done.

"You don't think that anyone would look at you?" Carlisle frowned and placed the puzzle book on his lap.

"I'd prefer not to talk about that." I stopped the conversation and picked up my own puzzle book and started to fill it in. I needed the distraction.

I caused an awkward silence but I didn't care. It was better that I stopped the conversation now before I end up puking all over my new boss's lap.

 _Good work as always Bella, good work._


	9. Nine

The Assistant

 _Thank you for the reviews!_

 _I have a day off and I am sick as a puppy dog so I thought I would try and have these two make me feel better about having to be in bed all day._

 _I would like to leave this with you:_

 **"Real isn't how you are made,' it's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become real.**

 **Does it hurt?**

 **Sometimes, when you are real you don't mind being hurt.**

 **Does it happen all at once, like being wound up, or bit by bit?**

 **It doesn't happen all at once. You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."**

 _Let's get down to the conference-shenanigans._

_.xBx._

"Are you kidding me?!"

We had arrived at the hotel, all right.

I stepped into the lobby, well they say it's a lobby, _regular_ guests may call it a lobby, I call it a freaking palace. The lobby alone was about the size of my entire apartment. I hadn't realised in my outburst that there was a sea of suits around us. I found myself backing away behind Carlisle as I felt some eyes on me.

Carlisle chuckled and placed a hand on my shoulder, "she's had a long journey and she's new to all of this." He addressed the crowd and the eyes soon moved away, there were a couple of men who had found their way out of the sea of suits to come up to us.

"Carlisle, how are you? I don't believe we have met this young lady, before …" I edged back from behind Carlisle to stand upright next to him. I couldn't help the blush that rose to my cheeks.

"Hello, guys. I am well and no you haven't, I have just hired her as Rosalie's replacement. Stefan, Charlie … Meet Isabella Swan. Bella, this is Stefan and Charlie. Stefan is one of the founders of Penguin Publishing Houses and Charlie is the Creative Director of GQ Magazine."

"Hello." I managed to muster, my voice, however, showed my lack of confidence. I watched both men's hands come out towards me and I shook them both meekly. I had never been good with handshakes, I always felt like my hand was far too limp for people that they'd end up crushing my fingers.

"Well it's a pleasure to meet you. You will have your work cut out with this one, plus some pretty large shoes to fill. Rosalie ran the show, hell, she was the one who managed to get most of the men drunk at these things. The women is dynamite and sometimes not in a good way." Stefan said with a small smirk on his lips. I turned my gaze to Carlisle and saw his eyes lower, hiding a smirk of his own. I cowered a little on the spot and took a glass of drink from one of the waiters passing by.

"Please, pay no attention to them, Bella. They like a good party and Rosalie was a bad influence." Carlisle said, as comforting as he may have tried to be, it hadn't worked. I downed my drink pretty quickly and placed my glass back on the same tray when the waiter passed us again moments later.

"Do you think I could maybe go to my room and possibly freshen up a little?" I asked, adjusting my bag over my shoulder.

"Yes, just ask for your room key at reception. Our luggage has already been taken up to our rooms. We are in the same hallway but we are a few doors apart. I didn't know how you would feel about being right next door to me."

"Yes because we all know what a party animal you can be don't we, Carlisle?" Charlie joked, his comment laced with sarcasm. He and Stefan exchanged a look between them before looking back at me. "Excuse our banter with your new boss, Bella. We go back a long way us guys and we are the only ones who can make fun of him and who he can't fire."

"At least not anymore, not since you were having too much fun with one of his old assistants." Stefan responded, taking his own glass of drink from the passing waitress. "Thankfully he is a happily married man now, Isabella so you have nothing to worry about."

As Stefan winked at me, I felt nauseous again. I gracefully bid adieu to the mogul giants and left the lobby. I walked to the reception, fumbling around in my bag to find my phone. I needed to take some pictures of this place, Alice was going to freak at how beautiful this all was. Plus, I may have mentioned that I was going to meet a lot of people from the literature and publication fields to make her jealous.

After getting my room key from the reception, I made my way up to my room. Thankfully, the lady at the desk had been very hopeful and told me what floor I needed to go to. Usually I was pretty good at finding these types of things, myself but due to the fact that the journey up here was so long, all I was thinking about was having a shower.

According to the itinerary for the conference, there wasn't anything planned until later. We were all going to have dinner in the hotel's dining suites later in the evening, so I had enough time to try and make myself feel more human again. As I reached to the floor I needed, I passed various people who suits who looked like they were a part of the same conference. I felt underdressed, I was smart enough but my petite blouse and skirt were not enough compared to the fancy trouser suits and blazers that other women were wearing. Plus, some women were dressed in fancy little black numbers that I wish I could wear.

I let out a small sigh of relief when I reached my door, I pushed my card into the door and opened it. I stepped in and found myself in awe at how beautiful the room was.

I had a view of the gardens, the slightly lush green colour of the grass filtered through the hanging net curtains that swayed from the draft seeping through the open windows. I stepped over and moved the net out of the way and saw the various flowerbeds and bushes below, all kept to a wonderful standard. The sun was going down and the gardens were basked in a mellow blue colour. I loved summer, when the days and nights were longer and the evenings were always so lush and relaxing. I turned away from the window and placed my handbag on the bed, next to where my suitcase has placed. Resisting the urge to lay down underneath the covers and sleep the night away, I opened the case and placed my outfits on hangers inside the wardrobe.

After I emptied my suitcase, I placed it on top of wardrobe out of the way and undid some of my blouse buttons. I opened the door to the bathroom and almost melted to the floor. Alice was right about the bathtub, I hadn't had one like this since I lived in my family home. It was one that came out from the corner and was long enough for me to lay my entire body down in. I never liked any smaller baths than this, I had a phobia of my hips getting wedged into the tub so since my parents' divorce and since our family home was no longer ours, I had always taken showers.

I know, it's a biological impossibility. When you see yourself like I do, anything is possible. Especially when it came to my size. My opinion became gospel. It had become a part of me, it was natural now to not see myself as others do. No one had ever told me it was wrong, I assumed everyone hated themselves as much as I do.

 _They do, don't they?_

I could imagine Alice having fun with her Lush bath bombs in this tub. I took a snap of it on my phone as it still had the towels decorated beautifully at the bottom of the tub and sent it to her. I swiftly removed the towels and took off my clothes. I quickly fetched my products from my washbag and left it by the basin before adding some of the complimentary mini bubble-bath to the water.

After filling the tub, I stepped in, I unclipped my hair and rested my head against the side of the tub. I closed my eyes, letting the silence calm me. The warm water loosened my muscles and steamed away my pores from the travel, I was in heaven. I was going to enjoy my peace, even if it would be short lived.

Soon enough my phone vibrated on the edge of the tub and I took it, lifting it away from the bubbles as I looked as Alice's lengthy reply. I sighed, put the phone back down and made the mental note to reply to her once I was getting ready to go down for dinner.

_.xCx._

"When did you hire her then, Carlisle?"

I knew that the guys coming over to Bella and I was a bad idea. Charlie and Stefan knew how to make an atmosphere awkward. I was also always aware of the fact that I had changed a lot from when we were all in university together. The three of us had some stories between us, however, a lot of those memories stories couldn't be told without mentioning my former wife, Elizabeth. Since she and I met in University, Charlie and Stefan had seen every stage of our relationship unfold, even its ending. The guys still knew how to have a good time, I, however now found that kind of thing difficult to do. Since I had so much responsibility, I couldn't find letting loose easy to do anymore so I haven't done it, since.

"Last Monday just gone. Rosalie chose about ten people from all the applications I got and so I saw them all. Once I interviewed Bella that was enough to convince me that she was good enough to replace Rosalie. I understand that the two of them couldn't be more different, I do think that Bella can learn and excel eventually."

I saw Stefan smirk and drink some more from his glass, "Rosalie is going to be hard to replace, Carlisle. We all know this."

Charlie sighed, "I wondered how long it would take for you to start talking about Rosalie, Stef. You still have a thing for her after all these years?"

"What? She's the only girl that I have never been able to have. Plus Emmett is a good guy. So it's bittersweet that I couldn't be the one to tame her." Stefan joked.

"Rosalie wouldn't ever be tamed, you'd be whipped every step of the way." Charlie grabbed his own glass of drink.

"Anyway, she will be away for a year, maybe longer. I am not going to tell her that I am going to have two assistants when she comes back anyway. Rosalie has had her fair share of fun with me and now it's my turn." I smirked, choosing to drink some of my water I brought on the train rather than the complimentary sparkling wine they were serving out to us.

"Well I am glad that you found someone who will be acceptable for you. Let's just hope that Stefan doesn't go after her, seeing as he took that role from me once I married Renee."

"Let's hope not."

I frowned at Stefan's comment. Stefan was a notorious bachelor and known 'playboy', there was a reason he was known as this as he did have a tendency to use his position as a perk in that area. Stefan liked being alone, or so he said and so for that reason he had several meaningless flings. Bella did not seem to be the type of girl who would entertain this behaviour, she was quick to change the conversation when the mention of a man finding her attractive at all. Even though Bella would never want to be a fling to anyone, that much I knew, the mere idea of Stefan already thinking of her in that way got my back up.

Why would it? Why would it annoy me? Why would the idea of Stefan and Bella being together make me feel sick, even though they just met?

 _Carlisle, get a hold of yourself. She's not yours to make decisions for._

"Hey Stef, how about you go and grab us some proper drinks from the bar? Since we have to be professional for the next couple of days, we may as well have our fun now, right?" Charlie held up a twenty pound note and Stefan was quick to take the money from him and head to the bar. "So will you at least talk to me about how you have a crush on your new assistant?"

I almost spat out my water, Charlie was always too good at reading other people. Plus we had known each other too long to keep things from one another. I wasn't very good at hiding my emotions when my heart was involved. "What?"

"I saw that look with Elizabeth, Carlisle. Don't think I don't know that you have that little green-eyed monster on your shoulder right now. Look, we can be as professional as we want but women, they got powers. They cast their spell on us and we are all screwed. Thankfully we have a lot of information to take from these next two days so you can come out of this unscathed."

"Charlie, I don't know why it bothers me. I don't know what power Bella has. I just … I don't know how I feel. All I know is I haven't had any of this since Elizabeth and looked how well that turned out."

"Carlisle, man … You have to stop feeling responsible for Elizabeth leaving you. She made the choice.." he stopped and lowered the sound of his voice, leaning into me a little closer. "Lizzy chose another man over you and all that shit she gave you about not being there for her was bullshit and you know it. That woman knew what kind of job you had, what kind of jobs we all had. You are a busy guy and you put everything into it, you put Stef and I to shame in that sense. You work twenty four hours a day pretty much and she signed up for that when you two fell in love with each other."

I held up a hand, using it to rub the back of my neck. I was getting agitated, I hated digging up old memories, especially when it came to Elizabeth. The experience still caused me pain and I still hated myself for not being there enough for her.

"I'm sorry. I said too much, we didn't get a chance to talk about this properly, buddy. When it happened you closed up, we wanted to be around but we wanted to leave you be. I guess enough time has passed now so I can be honest."

"I appreciate that but right now, I am trying to be professional, I am trying to be a gentleman and I am trying to be a good boss Charlie okay?"

"Got it." Charlie ended the conversation as Stefan reappeared at our table with some scotches. I was thankful that he had begun to talk about how good looking the woman working in the bar was which diverted attention from what we had just been discussing.

After a little more time, I decided to follow in Bella's footsteps and head to my hotel room. I made a point of passing hers when heading to my own and saw that she had put on a 'do not disturb' sign on the handle.

_.xBx._

I sat on the bench in front of the mirror in my room long enough to be satisfied with the dress that I had chosen for dinner. It was a long dress enough to cover most of my legs and my arms were covered with a lace design cardigan. As warm as it was outside, inside, the air con was blaring. I ran my hands through the ends of my long hair, which was naturally wavy and caught a whiff of my honey conditioner, I took one last glance at myself in the mirror. I made a habit of never looking in mirrors from my neck down and even from the neck up, I found it very hard. I turned off the TV that I had put on for some more background noise and opened up my hotel room door.

The corridor was eerily quiet, I stepped out, placing my room card in my cardigan pocket and headed down the small distance to Carlisle's room. Moments later, he answered my few soft knocks.

"Oh Bella, good you're ready. You look nice, I spent more time downstairs so I only have to put on some aftershave in the bathroom. I am running a little behind compared to you. Come in, please." I smiled as Carlisle moved away from the door and into his bathroom, I walked over to the bed and sat down onto it. He, too had the TV on probably for the same reason as me. I heard him spray himself in the bathroom and watched the various people on the screen move around, not paying too much attention to what was happening.

Moments later, he reappeared and put his room card in his pocket and his wallet in the other. He picked up the remote and turned off the TV. "We all good to go?"

I nodded and stood up again, I walked to his door and held it open for him.

"I don't know about you but I am starving, I wonder what food they will have put on for us. Usually it is a buffet style, usually a lot of selection." Carlisle placed his hands in his pockets as we headed down side by side to the dining rooms.

"I just hope there isn't too much fish. I am a little wimpy when it comes to the smell." I admitted, lowering my eyes.

"I can understand that, I am not a huge fan of fish anyway." Carlisle allowed me to step into the elevator, first and pressed the button for the ground floor. "Hey, I am sorry if Charlie and Stefan came on a little strong when we got here. All of us we …Went to University together. We have a good friendship, one of the very few that I have been able to keep all these years. I guess with all of us being in the business we know how to ween out the arseholes you know? The ones that only want to be friends because of the jobs we have."

I shook my head, "There's no need to apologize, Carlisle. They are your friends, plus, considering all of your job titles you can't see each other so much. Catching up is important. Plus, it was nice to meet people who don't look down their noses at me."

"They wouldn't do that, Bella. I will make sure that no one does that, at least not when you're with me."

I looked up at Carlisle who shot me a reassuring smile, this time, his reassurance worked. I smiled back, finally feeling like I could really smile at him. Carlisle had shown me nothing but kindness and respect so far and I wanted to show him, in some way, that I was grateful and that it hadn't gone unnoticed.

"Did you all study the same subjects in University?" I asked as we walked out of the elevator and towards the dining area.

"Yes, all of us studied Business. Stefan did start out originally studying law before changing his mind and Charlie started economics before he decided to come onto the business degree programme. The three of us, we were in-separable, we did everything together."

"Was it worth it? Going to University? I always wanted to go but I was scared, I was scared that I was going to be so much in debt and never use it or that I was not going to be smart enough to take the workload."

"It's not all that. I wouldn't change it. For other reasons outside of meeting Charlie and Stefan, I had other experiences, too. Other experiences that changed my life. It was definitely worth it, all that hard work and then you get a degree, it's not an easy thing to get. Besides, universities accept mature students, in some cases that is beneficial. You can always go."

"I guess so." I could smell the food, we were getting closer. Thankfully, it didn't smell of fish, it smelt like all kinds of things. "When you say 'other experiences' what do you mean?"

"Let's grab a good table. I will answer that once we can sit down." Carlisle placed one of his hands between my shoulder blades and led me to a table right at the back. It looked private enough even if there were hundreds of other people enjoying their food in the same place.

Once we both reached the table, I took my plate and followed Carlisle up to the buffet area and put some food onto it. Carlisle seemed to know his way around and I just spent the whole time following him, watching what he was eating as well as what other people were taking. There was a great selection, everything you could want. I kept my food choices vegetarian, I didn't trust meat when I didn't cook it myself.

After I had a decent amount of food on my plate, I went back to the table and sat back down. Carlisle was soon to follow, he placed down a glass of juice in front of me.

"I figured you'd need a drink, too. I've been to too many of these things to know my way around. They always put the different types of food in the same places." Carlisle smiled bashfully and sat down opposite me.

"Thank you." I smiled and picked up my fork.

"No where were we?" Carlisle picked up his own and took a bite to eat.

"The experiences, in University? Other than making friends with those guys."

Carlisle took a breath, he took a sip of juice before answering. "I happened to meet someone special in University. At least she did end up being something special. Her name was Elizabeth."

I looked into his eyes, waiting for him to continue. I felt my heart flip a little when he mentioned a woman's name. There was no way Carlisle was a stranger to relationships, I would be confused as hell if he were untouched or unexperienced like me. "Was she … You were married?"

"I wanted to marry her. I planned to. We had a very good relationship, until my father retired and life changed. Until I became a workaholic, I was so ready to be committed to someone. Unfortunately, running five publications came at a price. Elizabeth, well … Elizabeth wasn't happy and I wasn't around that much…"

I bit down on my lip as he stopped, the sadness in his eyes was so evident, I suddenly found myself wanting to make it go away. Take his hand, hug him, anything. "What happened to her?"

"Let's just say she found someone else. One of my colleagues in fact and well, I was left blaming myself for not being there for her, what a fool huh?" Carlisle ate more food, falling silent.

"I'm sorry, Carlisle. I'm sorry she did that. You have to know, though … You are not to blame. I know from experience with my parents. My mum she, spent years with the pain that my father inflicted. Years wondering whether she was ever good enough, revaluating her entire marriage, questioning its validity. Wondering whether he ever loved her when he was cheating on her for so long."

Carlisle looked at me, smiling sadly, "I'm sorry that happened to you, Bella. No child should have to go through that, no matter what age they are."

"I guess we all carry some blame for other people's actions, right? I guess I am a fool, too for not being enough for my father to stay. For not being enough."

Carlisle touched my hand with his fingertips, I felt my skin flutter underneath his touch, "None of that is true, Bella. None of it."

I fell silent, just allowing him to pull his hand away in his own time. I'd be lying if I said that I didn't like it when his hand came into contact with my body. It seemed like the most natural thing in the world even though whenever I would think about guys touching me I would feel sick. The thought of it made me hate the idea, made me believe that no one would ever want to touch me. When Carlisle did it … It felt normal.

Why didn't I feel sick?

Why didn't this gross me the hell out?

I couldn't think about it, though. I couldn't think about how much I liked it. He was my boss and I was still on temporary ground with my job status.

I had to be professional.

Thankfully, I could be distracted tomorrow by all the presentations and note-taking.


	10. Ten

The Assistant

 _The last chapter just flew right out of me, I don't remember much about writing it but I am glad you enjoyed it!_

 _Lots of love, always._

_.xBx._

After dinner, Carlisle and I decided to take a walk on the hotel grounds. It was a clear night with plenty of stars above us. The atmosphere was mellow, calming and admittedly rather beautiful.

"So have you enjoyed yourself so far? I know we haven't actually done any work, yet…" Carlisle asked, smiling bashfully as he held his hands together behind his back as we walked side by side.

"Yes. I have to admit I was a little nervous before we set out this morning. Everything is okay, plus its so beautiful here. It helps to be surrounded by this."

"I can believe that. I am fortunate I have been to a lot of these places, they never get any less beautiful. It's good to be able to walk around like this, since these things end up being so stressful. It's a good de-stressor." Carlisle added, watching the water fall from the fountain we were approaching.

"Carlisle, can I ask you something?"

"Of course but first," he rummaged around in one of his trouser pockets and handed me a copper. "As cliché as this may sound … You want to make a wish?"

I couldn't help the smile that graced my lips as I took the penny from his hand, "you believe in that kind of stuff?"

"I believe that a person should always have hopes. The fact that we can wish hard for something and the possibility that it may come true is timeless. As children we are given the choice to believe the ideal because we haven't yet experienced reality. I guess things like this allow us to go back to being children, back to tradition. If only for a couple of minutes, it feels good." Carlisle pulled out a penny of his own and I watched him as he walked to the edge of the fountain.

After falling silent for a minute, he threw the penny into the water and turned back to face me, "what were you going to ask me?"

I held out my penny to him, "I don't have any wishes to make. You make one for me." I smiled and placed the penny in his palm before he could argue against it. I watched his expression change to a sad smile, he shook his head and placed the penny back in his pocket.

"You will think of something and when you do, I'll have your back." He patted his pocket and smiled widely before he sat down on the edge of the fountain. "You were going to ask me something?"

I stood beside him and crossed my arms, "you can tell me if I am being nosey and you don't have to answer this. After Elizabeth, after everything that happened … You never wanted to date anyone else? I only ask because I got the gist from your friends that you don't socialize as much as they might do."

Carlisle sighed and lowered his head a little. "I used to. I used to be a lot like them, I guess when you go through something that I have. It gives you a different perspective. I am not a bachelor, I don't choose that life. I have never believed in casual relationships, making things casual is not committing yourself to someone, it's committing yourself to numerous people. Elizabeth, she … She was my first. I waited to have sex with someone who I cared about. Got teased to shit about it. Oh man, I'm sorry … This is why I should never have alcohol, I say too much." Carlisle placed a hand on his forehead, lowering his eyes further to the ground.

"They say a drunk man's words are a sober man's thoughts. Besides, I don't mind. I want to be able to be there if you need me. I think that's great that you chose to wait … That's rare these days. I understand why you wouldn't want to date again but don't you miss it?"

Carlisle nodded, "Yes. Bella, please sit down, you're making the grounds look untidy." He joked, smirking a little and edging a little further away on the marble surface. "What about you? You must have someone special or maybe had someone special in your life …"

I shook my head, "No. I have never known how to date anyone. I stayed away from it, not wanting to make a fool out of myself. Plus, I never believed that anyone would want to. So it's a mixture of everything you know?"

"Do you think it has something to do with your father, too?"

I looked at him, nodding once. "I hate to admit it but what he did, made me distrust any guys. As if I didn't have enough reason to think that they could never be trusted, anyway. I didn't want him to have a hold on me, to have him effect my life but sometimes it just can't be helped. I was weak …"

Carlisle patted my shoulder once, "things might change. I mean, working with me, you will meet other people."

"Maybe. I don't really want to date, anyway. I think it's better to be alone and know how to trust yourself." I hated talking about this stuff because it made me sound like I wasn't as freaking lonely as I really was, it made me look like I was so into my own problems or incidents in the past that I didn't know how to move on. It was an instant killer whenever I spoke to guys. I mentioned about trying to make myself feel better about my self-image and they run straight for the hills.

"We'll see about that. If you ever need any help then you can always ask me things. I may not be as young as the guys you may want to date but I can at least try and shed some light on the 'male perspective'." Carlisle nudged me playfully on the shoulder and I laughed at the gesture.

"See you _can_ be like them. We can both talk like one of the guys." I stood up. "You want to grab some tea or something? I think the dining area might still be open and I think the alcohol we have drunk has played enough havoc on this conversation. You with me, buddy?"

"Always, Bella." Carlisle stood up and followed me back into the hotel. There was hardly anyone left from the conference, considering that the majority of us had probably travelled quite a way, most people had probably already gone to bed. I wasn't far from falling asleep myself but I was having a little too much fun hanging out with my new boss.

I am glad I decided to come on this conference. It gave us a chance to get to know one another and we had certainly broken the ice. Now I was happy I was going to be his assistant and happy that he was going to be trusting me to get everything done for him.

"I guess we should be getting to bed, soon." I walked to the bar and ordered us both a hot chocolate, I pulled out my coin purse from my clutch bag and paid for it. Since Carlisle had brought me the two gin and tonics after dinner, it was only fair. Carlisle took his drink from the bar when it had been made and led us over to the same booth we had sat in at dinner. I sat down opposite him with my own drink.

"Thank you for this, Bella."

"You're welcome. I think after this we should get some shut eye."

"I agree, is there anything else that I need to know about these conferences? Are the presentations helpful or is this something that you just _have_ to attend and they are spouting information that you know already?"

Carlisle smirked and blew on his hot chocolate, "I'd be lying if I said that most of these presentations are common sense when it comes to most of us. However, since this is you and you are new to the field then it will be a good learning experience for you. You will be able to take something from this. Besides there is always new things that I can learn about keeping my publications successful. Even a professional has space to improve themselves."

"Your publications? Were they all passed onto you from your father or did you acquire some?" I took a sip of my drink, enjoying the warming sensation that travelled down my throat.

"My father had control of three of the publications but the other two were already mine. I do want to try and leave both of my original ones in different hands but the people below me aren't quite ready to run the entire show yet. I will give them another year, just enough time to experience just about everything. Then, I will hand them over."

"Won't that be hard?" I frowned, I already knew that every publication meant too much to Carlisle, too much to be able to have much of a life outside of them.

"Sure it will. I do think it's time, though. I have dedicated a lot of time to these and my father and I already had this conversation. I saw my father work way past the retirement age and his health declined pretty quickly. I don't want m stress levels to be as high as his was."

"Did he get sick? Is he okay?"

"He's okay now but his job took a lot out of him. More than he realized, with lesser publications to be responsible for I can keep myself rolling without risk of my blood pressure flying off the charts. I know it doesn't seem like much but my health, it's important."

"Of course. I don't know how you are still functioning, I would have had a breakdown from all the pressure already if our roles were reversed."

"Well, I love what I do. No matter how stressful I get and how much I want to relinquish all responsibility for my magazines some days… I wouldn't change any of it."

I smiled and sipped a little more of my drink, "let's hope you can ease off on the workload one day. I am sure that the people taking over will do a great job, they are your babies after all."

"That they are." Carlisle smiled and rested back further against the back of the booth. "Have you lived with your roommate long?"

"Alice? Yeah a few years now. I moved to the city, had about three jobs to try and make the rent and pay the bills. I was working in a run-down café in Brixton that thankfully isn't around anymore. Alice came in one night and well the rest is history. She found me a better job working with some friends of hers as a receptionist, kind of administrative assistant and that was my job until a few months ago. Then here I am."

"You two are close?"

I nodded, "Alice is the only real friend I've had. The two of us couldn't be any more different but it works for us. I am sure that my introverted-ness drives her crazy most of the time but not all of us can be as extroverted as her."

"Not everyone can be the same. I am glad that she supported you and helped you out, though. When you move to a new place, especially a place like London, you never know who to trust. You need friends but because you don't know the area, it can be risky."

"It was. I needed to find the jobs and well, the transport links in London are the best in the world pretty much. Where I was, everyone knew one another, everyone knew the shit that went down with my father and mother's marriage and I needed to get out. I couldn't deal with the looks people gave me, the tilted 'are you okay' looks you know?"

"Oh I know those. Wanted a new start huh?"

I nodded, I finished the rest of my drink and thanked the lady who came to retrieve the empty cup.

"What about your mum? Did she ever remarry? Is she seeing anyone else?"

I shook my head, "I don't think she ever got over it. As strong as she wanted to seem to me, I knew the pain she was in. The pain she still feels. I think she has found solace in the fact that she will spend the rest of her life alone, she always has me but I do wish she would find someone to keep her company, you know? Someone to care for and live for."

"I understand, I do understand how she would find that difficult as well and decide against it."

"I have to keep how I feel about it from her, she would only say that I am her child and I don't need to be the parent. It's nice to talk about it, I am sorry if talking about this stuff gets boring for you." I shrugged and rested my elbows on the table, I supressed my feelings about my past so much that I never realise how much I need to vent.

"Not at all, Bella. Our past is what makes us who we are, what we go through affects who we become. You have been through a lot, you're stronger than you think even though I don't think you will believe that."

I hummed, keeping silent. I didn't agree with him, he was right about that.

"Now, let's get going to bed. You're going to need your rest for tomorrow." Carlisle finished his drink, handed his cup to the same lady who had taken mine and rose to his feet. I rose with him and placed my clutch bag under my arm before following beside him out of the dining area and to the elevators.

The two of us didn't have anything else to say as we headed to our floor. Sleep was beginning to take us both over, as we reached my room I fumbled in my clutch for my room card.

"I hope you sleep well, Bella. We've had a long day. Be sure to set your alarm for the morning, breakfast is served from eight till nine. The conference starts at nine thirty sharp."

I nodded and placed the card into the door and opened it, holding it open with my foot. "Thank you for hanging out with me, Carlisle."

"You're welcome, Bella. Goodnight." Carlisle moved closer to me for a moment, as if contemplating what to do before stepping back again. With one more smile and a blush to his cheeks, he walked away further down the corridor and into his own room.

I watched him go, waited until I heard his door close and stepped into my own room.

I sat down on the bed and reflected on what had happened, eventually, I changed out of my clothes and got into my pyjamas. Once my head hit the pillow, I went straight to sleep.

_.xCx._

The sound of birdsong woke me up the following morning. I didn't need my alarm, I had woken up before it as per usual. I allowed my mind as I was coming around to think about what had happened between Bella and me last night. The two of us had talked, a lot. Things seemed to be going okay, we had a couple of drinks and our inhibitions were lowered a little. I mean everything was going okay until I let my emotions almost ruin everything …

I remembered how I had left things at her bedroom door. I had only tried and got a little too close to her, I wanted to be close to her. My feet reacted before my head could stop them. I couldn't help myself, she looked so beautiful with her long hair all down and her comfier clothes on. I didn't know what it was, I don't know what had come over me in that moment. Bella was a woman who had powers, powers that she didn't even know about. I could smell honey on her, the smell was intoxicating, all night all I could smell was her and it was heavenly. I didn't know any other woman would smell so good apart from Elizabeth who always smelled like coconut all year around. I don't think Bella noticed, I doubt she would be wasting her time thinking about it like I am right now.

Why would she be?

Anyway, I was an idiot. I got her to talk about her past and all the sadness that she had been through and then tried to be closer to her. I could still feel the alcohol and I wanted to be close to her. I wanted to feel how soft her hair was, I wanted to … Oh man I don't know what I wanted to do. I hoped she didn't think that I planned to make her vulnerable and take advantage of her.

I turned on the TV, needing to turn off the thoughts and kept the volume low. I headed into the en-suite and turned on the shower. I wondered if Bella had woken up yet, it was still pretty early, she had a long day ahead. I let the hot water calm me down, letting my muscles relax as I stood in the shower, perhaps a little longer than I should have and got myself ready.

I changed into another suit and towel-dried my hair, I was about to put on my tie when there was a quiet knock at the door.

 _It was a little too early for the maid to be around isn't it?_

I walked to the door and opened it, a little surprised to see an already-dressed and ready Bella on the other side.

"Bella, wow, you're ready early."

"I'm sorry, I couldn't sleep so I figured I would get up and get moving. Does this outfit look okay, will it look good for the people you know? I want to make a good impression now I am going to meet more people."

Like she needed to ask me if she ever looked good. If it were possible she looked even better than she did last night. Bella didn't have an extravagant style when it came to clothing but she still looked good. Her clothes weren't from the usual shops or boutiques so she wasn't ever dressed like anyone else, I liked that.

"It's great, Bella. You don't have to worry about making much of an impression with the people here. I don't see them much at all, only at these things. I maybe attend about three or four to these a year. It's great that you wanted to, though."

"Oh." Bella replied, smiling bashfully and fidgeting a little on the spot. "Alice picked this out for me and I was worried … I was worried that it was a little … Tight."

 _Now Bella, let's not talk about how that skirt hugged your curves. I have already noticed, don't give me another opportunity to have to get into the shower._

"Trust me, its fine. Now come in, you're making the hallway-"

"Look untidy, I get it." Bella interrupted, she chuckled and walked inside, her eyes fell to the tie in my hand. "Want some help with that?"

"You know how to put ties on?"

Bella took the tie from my hands and smirked, "I used to put them on my father every morning before he went to work. My mother was hopeless when it came to them so I was his only hope. Plus it was nice, it was something that the two of us did together. Like a tradition. Now sit." Bella gestured to the foot of the bed and I happily obliged.

I sat down and looked up at her as she lay the material around my neck. Damn, there was that honey smell again. That sweet, alluring, intoxicating smell that is all her own. I closed my eyes for a moment, forcing myself to come back to reality before opening them again. I watched as she leaned down closer to me.

"You're up pretty early, too. Couldn't sleep either?" She asked, I focused on the question rather than how her scent was starting to intensify the closer she got to me.

"I was up before my alarm, it usually happens. There's no point in waiting for an alarm, I may as well get moving if there's no hope of getting back to sleep."

"I agree. There we go, all done." Bella stepped back and admired her work a little before clasping her hands together at her front.

"Thank you, Bella." I stood and looked at myself in the mirror, she had done a great job, an even better one than me and I had worn ties long enough to think that I had nailed the job in making them look good.

"It's a gift." Bella replied. "Shall we head down for breakfast? Oh I was going to ask you, should I bring my bag down now with my notepad in it or shall I come back up for it after breakfast?"

"I think you should bring it just in case. I won't need much, will you keep my wallet and phone in your bag?"

"Of course. I am your assistant after all. I think it's only fitting that I start abiding all your requests now huh?"

 _Maybe it's best not to abide by ALL of them, Bella, that may not be the best idea._

"Right." I stuttered and sat back down on the bed and put on some shoes. Damn it, why must this girl turn me into a stuttering nervous mess?

Bella waited patiently for me by the door and held it open for me as we made our way down to breakfast. I closed the door and walked beside her down the hallway. "I am so hungry I could eat a horse. I don't think this outfit is going to be my friend today when I am stuffing my face with breakfast helpings. Do they normally serve healthier options? I mean, rather than the usual fried stuff that most places serve?"

"Yes, they have fruit, cereals, granola and yoghurts."

"Perfect." Bella smiled. "Well then let's eat and get this show on the road."

 _Yes, let's._


	11. Eleven

The Assistant

 _Hello, again darlings._

 _I passed a test today and I'm buzzing. So I decided to add this little chapter for all of you!_

 _For this chapter, I have skipped the rest of the conference only because it would just be filled with presentations, talks, games etc … That would be a bit boring for me to write. Instead, we shall reflect on the last evening and the journey home._

_.xCx._

 _I couldn't move._

 _I couldn't think._

 _I didn't want to do anything._

 _Why did I put myself in this predicament?_

 _Sure, Bella… You can rest your head in my lap. That won't be weird._

 _You're tired, I mean there are perfectly good head restraints on the train, they would have been acceptable, that would have been normal._

 _Why?_

 _Just why?_

I don't know how long Bella had been laying there against my legs, so still, so peaceful. I fought so hard not to look at her, her face was so solemn it was so difficult not to be coherent in words let alone in my mind. I hoped she couldn't hear my heart, it was pounding and running a mile a minute. Why did I agree to do this?

Bella looked so worn out, once we left the hotel she couldn't hide her yawns, no matter how much she attempted to conceal them with the back of her hand. The conference was actually much heavier than previous ones had been. Even I was struggling to hold all the information, I had noticed that Bella had given up taking notes by the last two presentations. I didn't blame her, she had more staying power than I did. I would have given up way before, then. I didn't have the heart to make any comments on it, or make out that I knew. Since it was still technically her 'trial' for her capability, not that she needed one at all, I didn't want to make her nervous or anxious about anything.

I had demanded that she sleep, stubborn little thing was willing to fight me at every corner to stay awake. We had a long couple of days and she had to deal with a lot, meeting new people, meeting all the contacts that the company had and introduce herself as the 'new Rosalie'. A lot of the contacts that we have nearly always go through Rosalie so I believe it was a matter of adjustment all around.

I watched various people and the occasional train guard or two go through the carriage, back and forth they would walk probably all thinking the same thing. Wondering how a guy would look so uncomfortable with someone's head in his lap. How can he look so in pain when a girl was sleeping in his lap? Especially since he had gone a long while without connect from any women, choosing against having the temptation to sleep around, fought the temptation to take away any self-respect from both parties and turn off all emotion.

That was a bad decision.

I sat here wondering how on earth I went so long, how I took away how wonderful closeness can feel with another person. How could I have allowed Elizabeth to have any hold over me when it came to other woman, how she could walk away from it all happy and I was left with the emotion she left behind? Why was she allowed to walk free unscathed? Plus, why did I still wish her well?

Bella stirred in my lap, her eyes opened slowly to look up into mine. Those eyes, those deep brown eyes could send any man insane and I was the idiot slobbering over them when I needed to be professional. After a moment a frown graced her forehead and she lifted her head up, a bashful smile on her lips. "I'm sorry, I should have maybe napped somewhere else?"

I shook my head, watched as she ran her fingers through her curls, straightening out the top of her hair and the side she had been sleeping on. "Not at all. I insisted, are you feeling any better?"

Bella nodded and adjusted herself so she was sitting upright once more, "how long was I asleep for?"

"Not too long, about an hour and a half."

"You didn't have your puzzle books out?" Bella looked around where were sitting for a moment, I could only shrug in response.

 _I was a little more preoccupied about what could be waking up in my trousers to worry about puzzles, Bella._

"No. Didn't feel like it, besides the rest of the carriage was quiet so I didn't need to block myself out from the world."

"That's fair enough. You aren't tired?"

 _I'm exhausted Bella, more than you will ever know._

"I can't sleep very well on public transport. Or planes, something about crashing and plunging to my death really takes away the mood to sleep." I admitted, feeling like a complete idiot the moment I finished my sentence.

"That turned morbid pretty quick." Bella laughed and stretched out her shoulders and neck. "Well, the train won't crash, Carlisle. You can sleep and I can keep guard from the ghost carriage this time. Only if I can get into your puzzle book and complete a few of your puzzles whilst you do it." Bella smirked mischievously and I stood and moved over to the opposite seat.

"Yes just don't complete any of my own, only new ones, deal?"

Bella saluted, "now sleep."

I laid myself down on the seat and used the arm as a pillow, I watched her reach into my case and pull out my Sudoku book. Bella took the pencil she kept in her hair and started to work on it.

Before I knew it, the darkness had taken me over.

_.xBx._

I watched Carlisle as he slept.

He looked so peaceful, almost happy. Did I mention that he insisted I put my head in his lap? I was so tired, I couldn't say no. The train seats where nowhere near as comfortable as they looked it was in moments like these that Carlisle having a private jet may of helped us be a little more comfortable.

I know what you're thinking, I'm already thinking about the benefits I can reap from my job as his assistant, right? Well, you're wrong. I respected the fact that Carlisle wanted to travel on public transport, even though he could never be considered as a 'normal person' like me. It made him humble and I appreciated that.

I had taken his Sudoku puzzle book hostage, as well. I don't think I will ever have the heart to say that some of the puzzles he had completed were nowhere near right. Plus, the OCD part of me wanted to rub all the wrong answers out and put the right ones in.

The conference had taken a lot out of me. I was struggling to continue to write nearer the end that I may have skipped a couple of the presentations. All the brands and labels gave very similar information and all of them had the same purpose in order to make as much money as possible. I wasn't a natural when it came to having a business sense about me, I did think that some little bites were common sense. I managed to meet a lot of people from companies that I was a fan of as well, which I never thought would happen at all.

The hotel was gorgeous and I may have gorged a little too much on the food that had been available. The only hotels I had ever stayed in were ones where there was a room price of about thirty pounds a night and believe me, you never got too much for that thirty pounds. That's why I was always a little hesitant when hotels were involved in potential plans. Alice only chose the ones that I could never afford and so I had never gone on a trip with her.

I thought about Carlisle's friends on the way home, or so they called themselves. I was sure about how he and Charlie were friends, their characters and personalities were somewhat similar. I failed to see how that Stefan had ever got involved in their group. The two of them had teased that Carlisle wasn't a part of the group because he didn't share the interests of wanting to go out, I had the opposite feeling. Stefan was a bachelor and a man who clearly enjoyed many a woman and I knew about those types of guys and they immediately got my back up. Those types of guys pissed me off for various reasons, the main ones being that they screwed up girls' vision of 'nice' guys and they also didn't have a care in the world if they hurt anyone. I had never understood 'casual relationships' because in my mind, they were not relationships but conquests. As much as I never passed any judgement on anyone who wanted to sleep around, whether male or female I could never do it.

I guess that's why I was never able to understand how someone could switch off emotions. I had far too many emotions that I had to supress each day to be able to ever turn them off.

Stefan was a little too full-on for me, with any luck I would not have to see him again for a while. I think that he may potentially become a bad influence on Carlisle, Charlie had already found a woman to marry and settle down with so the only other friend that he could corrupt with the so-called bachelor life was Carlisle.

After getting bored with Sudoku and my crosswords, I picked my phone out of my bag and started to play some games on it. We were on the last hour of the journey and Carlisle was still sleeping soundly. The rest of the train carriage was so quiet and I was anxious about turning on any music in case it disturbed anyone. Thankfully, the moment I had put in my passcode to unlock the phone, a facebook message from Alice came through.

 _Hi B, are you on your way back? X_

 _Yes Ali, I should be back in just under an hour x_

 _How would you like to come out to dinner with Jasper and me tonight? I asked him if he could bring a friend so you wouldn't be third-wheeling x_

I immediately groaned at the latest message. Alice knew how I felt about blind dating, well how I felt about dating in general. I stayed away from meeting guys, from having to impress them and say all the right things. Not to mention having to look great, because I was never going to look like normal girls. Girls who manage to not do one ounce of exercise, eat me under the table and still manage to maintain their weight. I couldn't be confident to pull of a great outfit because I would bulge right out of anything that looked somewhat decent. It was too much effort and it was a test that I felt like I would never be able to pass.

 _Judging by your slow response, I figure your head is going to fight me on this, It is not a date, Bella. Besides, the guy works in the same building as Carlisle. For his magazine. I figured it was a chance to make a new friend in your new workplace. Plus, you could tell him about the conference so that is a good ice breaker x_

 _Alice, I can't date and I don't want to. You know this x_

 _B, trust me. It's not a date, beside I have already said to Jasper that if he ends up being a jerk then I will gladly castrate him using my dinner knife. It's been so long since you went out Bella, since the two of us went out and had some fun. You work too hard to not relax from time to time and you cannot win this anyway. You're coming x_

 _Why did you ask me if I wanted to go then? X_

 _Because I like a challenge! See you later x_

"What has got you so involved?" I looked up from my phone screen and found Carlisle smiling at me, his eyes heavy from sleep. I didn't bother sending a reply to Alice and put my phone back in my bag, "my roommate, she has invited me out to dinner tonight with her boyfriend."

"That sounds like fun, it might help you to unwind a little." Carlisle replied, sitting upright and stretching out his neck and shoulders. "I'm sorry I was asleep so long, I didn't realize how tired I was."

"You and me both, then. No need to apologize."

Carlisle frowned, "what's wrong Bella? You don't want to go out with your friends? Something is bothering you and unless something else drastic happened whilst I was sleeping, I take it that you are thinking about dinner."

I sighed, fighting the urge to tell him the real reason why I am so hopeless at finding relationships, let alone keeping one. "It has just got me a little worried, I mean Alice tells me that it isn't a blind date but it sure sounds like a set-up to one to me. Besides, the guy works for you as well so she was trying to help me out. I do appreciate the gesture."

"That was very considerate of her, if you can find out his name then I can try and shed some light where I can." Carlisle smirked, I narrowed my eyes.

"Best not to get into too much personal stuff I think. Besides, I have less than an hour to come up with an excuse, it doesn't have to be a good one, just one that means she can't win."

"Isn't your refusal enough?"

"I know why she is doing it, I just find it so easy to fight back or talk myself out of things. Call it a bad habit I have made over and over again through the years."

"Well, it sounds to me that if you decide you don't want to go then no one can make you go anywhere. Besides, going out with couples when you are the single one can be difficult and something only another single person can understand. Believe me, at my family gatherings I have been the only one not in a coupling for a while. Other people may not care, may not even give it a second thought but when you're the one alone, it gives a different perspective you know?"

"I do." I nodded, smiling a little. "I should really go out, I never do. Besides if I keep refusing Alice then I worry that she may not invite me again. It's not like I have any other friends to go out with." I lowered my eyes and kicked my legs under the chair a little.

"How about if you ever find yourself wanting to go out, purely as friends, then you give me a call?" Carlisle suggested, I looked into his eyes, unable to fight against the sincerity in them.

"Carlisle you are going to be my boss. This conference was a chance for us to see whether we could work well together and I believe that we can. I don't want to make things more complicated, besides I avoid cameras and mirrors like the plague, I don't want my face splattered over countless magazines."

I watched Carlisle's eyes drop before he nodded, "of course I understand. That was a bad idea, please forget I ever suggested it."

I bit down on my lip, I already knew that I had said too much. I wanted to make this better, I needed to fix this feeling of being a bitch, "it's nothing against you …"

"Bella, I understand. Due to my status, you don't want to be seen with me. Believe me I wouldn't want to go out with me, either, if it meant that press would be around. I don't want a lamb like you to be thrown to the wolves."

I decided to drop the conversation. I hadn't meant for it to come out that way but I knew that Carlisle was a person who was published about a lot. The press weren't to be trusted, they will print anything as long as it sells. I do not want to be the reason that Carlisle receives bad press, I would become a target. I would become the 'poor girl' who was dining with him because I had become his assistant. The thought of the potential headlines that may be published around that was enough to make me want to vomit.

Eventually, time passed and we finally got to the station. Carlisle and I had barely said anything else and I was happy to be leaving the awkwardness that I had created when we would go separate ways home.

I stood from the seat and grabbed my case, I pulled up the handle and got off of the train. I rubbed my legs a little as I stood on the platform, what usually happened when I sat down for too long. I waited for Carlisle to step off the train before taking my ticket out of my pocket and heading to the arrival barriers.

"I hope that you have fun tonight, Bella. If you do decide to go out." Carlisle said as we walked through the barriers.

I turned to face him, "Carlisle, I didn't mean to cause offence to you when I talked about the press, before."

"Bella, I've been around long enough to know how I, being a celebrity effects people that I hang around with. The press are hot on my heels most of the time, I mean even now I am waiting for some guys with a camera to come out of some plant statues and scare me shitless. The fact that I have worked so hard for this means that I have to sacrifice a personal life. That's a choice that I make and I don't expect others to want to come down with me."

I bit my lip, "Carlisle, it's not that I wouldn't want to have dinner with you. Seeing as I pretty much already have twice at the conference. I just don't want to be the reason that you receive bad press."

"Bad press? Bella me having dinner will be a nice change. I don't read anything they print but I can imagine that a dinner story will hardly be entertaining."

"Anyway, I'm sorry again. Thank you for letting me come on the conference. I will see you bright and early on Monday."

"Yes, have a good night and weekend, Bella. You don't want me to get Louie to drive us both home?"

I shook my head, "No thank you. Alice will meet me at the other side, she will be itching to get me ready for the evening, ahead."

Carlisle nodded, he placed his hand on my shoulder, "good work today by the way, Miss Swan."

"Thank you, Mr Cullen." I turned around and headed to the escalators that led down to the Underground. I sent Alice a quick message to meet me at Brixton.

I let my mind wander as I hoped on and off different trains. I hoped that the weekend would let the awkwardness that I had created disappear so Carlisle and I could return to normal.

I wanted to kick myself for being so stereotypical. I wanted to get off of the high horse and get the animal to beat me with its hooves. Carlisle was the only man I had ever had dinner with and I am including the fact that we were at a conference to be included.

I managed to keep the anxiety at bay during the rush hour crowds. Usually I would be rocking myself in the corner of the carriage to stay away from the overwhelming heat and body odour but I was able to distract myself. Before I knew it I was walking to Alice, who was beaming once she had seen me on the platform.

"Bella!" Alice wrapped her arms around me, "I am so glad that you made it back in one piece. You look tired, did you sleep at all?"

"Yes, I did for about an hour," I pulled away from her and linked my arm in hers as we climbed up the stairs to the street above.

"So this guy's name is Edward and he works in the finance department-"

"I know him. I met him on my first day, actually-"

I found myself instantly feeling better at the fact that I already met this new friend that we were going to be having dinner with. I remember he was the one who had seen me standing outside Carlisle's work building the day of the interviews. If I recall, he did say that he had a distant connection to Carlisle and his family. Perhaps we could talk about some things, it would be great if I didn't mention the press as well. That topic seems to land me in hot water.

"Oh that's perfect then there won't be any awkwardness. He and Jasper have been friends for a few years, used to work together in the same job. Jasper speaks pretty highly of him so there's no need to make his friend sound impressive. I'm sure you two will get along just fine."

"We do. He seems like a funny guy and he said if I ever needed to vent from a stressful day at the office I could go down to his department. Apparently there aren't many girls that go down there."

Alice giggled, "Then there is one thing left to do…"

"Which is what my mischievous little friend?" I nudged against her playfully and headed back to our apartment, arm in arm with her.

"To get you ready and to get some concealer on those bags. By that, I don't mean the ones you are carrying right now."

 _Oh heaven help me._


	12. Twelve

The Assistant

 _Thank you for the reviews so far, sending love your way and I am sorry it's been forever there have been so many retrogrades and it's been messing me up. Damn planets are a friend to no one. I'm an empath, too so you can imagine what that does to me. I hope all of you are feeling okay and staying strong due to the seven-planet retrogrades out there right now._

" _There's just a magic that consumes you when you're kissed by the right person. All you want is more … Their scent, their hands, their taste, their body all over you. The heat and passion making your purpose in those moments converged for them, alone. You're swept up in the ardent passion ignited within each other." My quote of the week._

_.xBx._

"No."

"No."

"Please…"

"Alice."

"No."

"I'm wearing my own clothes." I walked over to my wardrobe, aspirated at the amount of clothes that Alice had shown me, trying to insist that I wear them.

"Alice, I love you but I do not need a personal shopper. I hate clothes shopping, I avoid changing rooms like the plague due to the mirrors and do I look like someone who needs to be dolled up for this date?"

"Bella, I am only trying to help. I mean beauty is my passion, it's all I have ever been good at aside from administration and personal assistant activities-"

Alice slumped down on the bed, running her fingers along the fabrics of her discarded clothes with a pout on her face.

"I think _your_ skills and activities as a personal assistant differ slightly from mine." I remarked throwing the blouse and skirt I put on of hers next to her on the bed.

"Hilarious, Bella. You know what I mean, though. Fashion was all I was ever really good at it and you know what happened when it came to me going to get a degree. Too much family stuff and I can't go into University now because the debt would be far too great. Working with Jasper gives me my only chance to work in fashion. At least for a _magazine_ in fashion. That's better than ending in a dead-end job for the rest of my life."

I smiled sadly, I put on my black jeans and long-sleeved blouse and walked over to the bed. I perched down on my mattress next to her and placed my hand on her knee. "You will be an amazing creative director one day, far better than me anyway. I am not sure I even want to stay in fashion. You should have seen those people at the conference, Alice. They had such confidence and … _Power._ Unless they are just really good actors." I took the clip out of my hair, letting my curls cascade around my shoulders and looked down at the mattress.

"Now is the time to dish more about this conference now I have to clean up this mess. What else happened, who else did you meet?" Alice stood from the bed and grabbed some hangers from the wardrobe where I had just been standing. "What about Carlisle? You had fun together, right?"

"Alice… You're going to think I'm crazy. I never thought I could have fun with a man. Plus he's my new boss. Is that lucky? Or am I crossing a line being so casual with him?"

"I would never think you're crazy, Bella. You drive me crazy with how badly you think about yourself when you are one of the most beautiful people I know but no, never crazy." Alice smiled, taking some hangers in her arms and coming to stand at the foot of the bed and putting the clothes back onto the hangers.

"Carlisle's friends, Charlie and Stefan. He said that they were old friends from University, they were there at the same time that Carlisle had met his ex, Elizabeth-"

Alice stopped and looked at me, "You found out about Elizabeth. What happened?!"

I frowned, "you have read all the magazines and papers, Alice. Surely that was reported about all over the world?"

"Nope not as much as you'd think. All the papers had were conspiracy theories and facts based on anonymous sources. Nothing held up. Nothing was ever really known about why they split, some say it was an affair, others say that Carlisle chose his work over her. It was a mess." Alice replied, continuing to hang the clothes once more.

"I can state for a fact that Carlisle didn't chose his work over her. From what I gather, he was crazy about her. He caught Elizabeth in bed with another man, a colleague of his."

"I knew she wasn't to be trusted." Alice answered, the shock evident in her voice.

I shook my head, "no I don't think she always was like that. The two were very much in love with one another when they met and at the beginning of the relationship but I don't think that Elizabeth realised how busy he was going to become. The woman couldn't handle his ever-growing success and for that, she sought to find someone else." I bit down on my lip, I couldn't help but be annoyed with Elizabeth for what she had done. At least she could have been honest and spoken with Carlisle about how she felt but then how was I supposed to know that she didn't? I had only heard one side of the story.

"Either way, no one deserves to be treated like that or to find out their partner's infidelity like that. I bet that really hurt Carlisle, I mean having to do his job and then having that happen to you… I bet working as hard as him came as a double-edged sword."

"Anyway, that's what happened." I reached into my bedside drawer and took out my hairbrush. I ran the brush aimlessly through my curls, my mind filled with Carlisle and Elizabeth and how their story went. It felt intrusive just thinking about them, what right did I have to express an opinion about a couple's relationship.

I had no right to judge anyone's relationship as I had never had one, myself. Like I knew all the answers or how someone should have done things. The one thing I will not condone, however, the one thing I will _never_ condone is cheating. That much was certain after my father's actions and the shit he had left behind for everyone else to clear up.

"Seems like she has had an effect on you…" Alice said after a moment of silence. The damn girl couldn't take things being silent for too long, she was always the awkward person who would break it any chance she got.

"I can't have an opinion on it, Alice. Just don't find any press people and we will be good." I laughed and put the brush down on the top of the unit.

"No way." Alice cleared all the clothes and walked over to me, "you look pretty." She ran her hand through my hair comfortingly.

"I will put on a little makeup, I do have the feeling I look like a tree monster right now. Plus, I could really use some of that concealer if there's some going." I smiled bashfully at her.

"Of course." Alice walked out of the room to go into her own, I took out my makeup bag from the bedside drawer and pulled out my usual mascara and lipstick. I ran my finger over the small bottle of foundation and wondered whether or not I should wear any of it. I couldn't remember the last time I brought it, it may be bad for my skin but right now I didn't care.

"Do it." Alice said as she stood at the door looking at me. I rolled my eyes at her and took out the bottle from the bag.

"I don't even know how old this is." I opened the lid and gave it a smell.

 _Like that's going to prove anything, Bella._

I heard Alice snort and come back to sit on the bed with me, "Since you will only let me put on a pea-sized amount on you, anyway. It won't matter." Alice held her concealer and a brush in hand. "Go and wash your face, Bella. Use my cleanser by the sink, this is not a night for just using your bar soap from lush."

I couldn't help the groan that came from me at her comment, I wasn't in the mood to argue with her and I sure as hell did not have the energy. I made my way to the bathroom and turned on the light, instantly wincing at the brightness sting in my eyes.

I looked at the sheer amount of beauty products at the sink, ninety seven percent of which did not belong to me and turned on the tap. Intentionally, I avoided the mirror like the plague not wanting to see how bad I looked. If I looked anything like I felt then that was not a sight that was going to help anyone. I waited for the water to warm up before splashing some onto my face, it felt surprisingly good, so good that I splashed and rubbed some onto my neck as well.

After placing some of my moisturiser on I turned off the light and walked back into my room. I took the clip which I had clipped to the hem of my blouse and placed it in my hair and sat back down on the bed.

"There we go." Alice sang, running her fingers along my forehead to move the baby hairs away from it and then continued to do the same down the sides of my face before placing my makeup bag in her lap. "You mentioned this Stefan guy? What didn't you like about him?"

"He's a player. The typical bachelor type, great job, thinks his shit doesn't stink. Come on, Alice you know the sort you must meet them in your job, too. I think he's a bad influence, it looked like Charlie was the guy that he was going to influence but turns out he is married. Carlisle is next, him being single an' all."

Alice smirked and started to apply the foundation onto my place, I watched her forehead scrunch up a little as she concentrated on putting it on.

"Let's hope you don't see him again. Jasper has a couple of those friends and I give them a wide berth as well. They know not to come near me at social events, I don't care if it looks unprofessional. I don't need to impress my boss or make a good impression like you do."

"That you definitely don't. Isn't it going to be hard, though? Having to leave behind your job as his assistant when a better job comes your way? I don't want to be an assistant, forever."

Alice shook her head and looked over my face to see whether she had managed to blend all the foundation evenly, "I am just going to miss the office sex. That's about it."

"You both do it in his _office_?" I bit down on my lip, I hated talking about sex or anything to do with what anyone got up to in their private lives but I was a little shocked that Alice was serious about this. I had heard her tease about it to me before but I never thought that she was telling the truth. I have never understood the appeal about doing it in a workplace or public place.

Or seen the appeal of it at all, it scared the crap out of me. Not just the fact that I was going to be _rubbish_ to any man but also the fact that someone would ever find me naked attractive at all.

It made me nauseous and I felt physically sick at the mere thought of it. That's not normal.

 _It can't be._

"I can't wait until you finally get to experience all of this, Bella. Yes Jasper and I 'do it' because we don't care. Also, we care about each other. I mean, I wouldn't do it with just anyone. I love sex, Bella but I do have some self-control. Jasper's my boss, only he has the power to fire me but of course he wouldn't dream of doing that. Let's just say he's far too complimentary when it comes to my skills." Alice giggled and I felt my stomach turn.

"Fair enough." I ended the conversation and continued to watch her put makeup on me until she was done.

After about half an hour, we were both good to go. I picked up my clutch bag that held my keys and my lipstick and purse and headed out with Alice to the lobby. I kept behind her when I saw Jasper in the lobby waiting to meet us, keeping my distance when they had a steamy exchange.

"Oh I'm sorry…" Alice wiped her lips with her fingers and turned to face me. "Jasper, you remember Bella?"

"Hello again Bella, how are you?" Jasper asked, holding Alice close to him.

"I'm okay thank you." I replied, letting my eyes wander to his arms around her, I drew my bottom lip into my mouth, fighting the sadness that washed over me and placed my clutch bag under my armpit.

"Let's go. Andrew is waiting outside, Edward said he would meet us at the restaurant as he only lives about ten minutes from there." Jasper said, he turned and wrapped his arm around Alice and she held out her arm for me to link with as we headed out into the street. I couldn't help but let my mind wander to where Carlisle had dropped me off after our first dinner together, a smile gracing my lips at how worried and anxious he was about me walking home, alone.

After stepping outside into the city lights, Andrew was waiting for us, once we reached him, his hand on the back door handle of the limo as we approached him.

 _I need to get used to getting limos for now, it seems._

"Good evening, Miss Alice." Andrew greeted Alice with a drop of his hat and she kissed him on the cheek.

"You are always such a gentleman Andrew. Bella this is Jasper's driver, Andrew. Andrew this is my best friend and roommate, Bella."

"Charmed, Bella." Andrew smiled at me and left the door open for us as he walked around to the driver's side. I shimmied into the far seat so that Alice and Jasper could have the seats closest to the window.

"Please tell me you have some champagne back here, lovely?" Alice asked as she made herself comfortable, practically sitting on Jasper's lap as he closed the door behind them.

"Of course I do." Jasper replied, takes out a bottle of champagne from it seemed out of some compartment and produced three glasses. I raised a hand once I had seen them.

"Please, none of me. I am not a fan of champagne." I said, holding my hand up, feeling out of place already in this entire set up.

"Well then we must make sure that you have some gin and tonics at dinner then, Bella." Alice said, more like a demand than a choice. I knew with that expression that there wasn't going to be any chance of me remaining t-total for the evening. I rested back against the seat and watched out the window as we passed numerous buildings to the restaurant. It wasn't long before Alice and Jasper's party of three became a party of two as they began to canoodle amongst themselves.

I pressed the button to close my window once we pulled out outside of the restaurant. Once I emerged from the limousine, the people outside the place smoking were naturally looking our way. I didn't know who they were looking at, whether their eyes were scanning me, the vehicle, Alice or Jasper. Alice, however, was quick to wave it all off as she walked over to my side of the limo and took my arm.

"Come on, Bella. Don't pay any attention to them." Alice whispered, she placed her other hand on my bicep and lead me indoors. Soon enough, I saw Edward in the foyer waiting for us. I smiled at him as we approached him and the Maitre'D.

"Hello Isabella. It's great to see you, again. I never did get to see you down in our department … News travelled fast that Carlisle got himself a new assistant." Alice released my arm and started to talk to the waiter behind the podium, Jasper close behind her, his hand on her lower back.

"I'm sorry about that, my first couple of days were involved travelling to a conference. I have only just got back. Believe me, I promise I will come into your department and make you nerds look good. How are you, Edward?"

"Thanks, the rest of the nerds will appreciate it, by the way, nerds don't like to be called nerds by attractive girls. We have egos and we are only self-disclosed nerds. I'm good. I just think this place is a little too fancy for me, I know I work for richer people who live much better than I do but I have to admit I like the simpler life. Just give me some microwave dinners and a crate of beer any night."

I smiled, I knew what he meant. I even felt out of place in Carlisle's building and that was going to be the place where I spent half my time in, perhaps even more if my boss decides to work late for any reason.

"I feel the same." I replied, I took off my jacket and handed it to a member of staff before we were lead to our seats. "Alice is convinced that this is a date, I don't want you to think that I am leading you on." I lowered my voice so that Alice couldn't hear me.

"No, I understand. Besides, I haven't dated in a while, I'd be bad at it anyway. Let's just say that this is just two friends hanging out to keep from third wheeling the couple." Edward nodded towards Alice and Jasper and smirked before he pulled my seat out. I thanked him and sat down at the table. "Plus I've played boyfriends to people before, it's fun when I got to play along."

"Well isn't this nice!" Alice exclaimed, looking between Edward and I eagerly. "Now you two can actually have some conversation. So Edward, you work in Carlisle's building, too? Jasper told me that you both used to work together in the past."

"Yes that's true and yes, I am in the same building. Jasper wanted the promotion from all the numbers, I have always be contented with the level I am at." Edward placed a napkin on his lap and glanced over the menu. I looked down at my own and did the same, suddenly finding it difficult to find something that looked remotely eatable, or anything I could even _pronounce_.

I heard Edward cough and I looked over at him, he smiled discreetly at me and tapped his finger on the menu, I looked at my own to the dish he was referring to. "It's a fancy burger, it's the only description I know in the language. Always go to a burger for a safe option."

"Thank you." I replied and caught a glance at Jasper whispering sweet nothings to Alice across the table, I assume that it was sweet nothing due to Alice's numerous facial expressions and laughter. I looked over at Edward, again and rested one of my elbows on the table.

"How was the conference? Did you meet some new people?" Edward asked.

"It was okay, there were some interesting people with some interesting stories. It seems like most people at these conferences have history. Their relationships are intertwined, friends of friends, involvement with people that may go beyond business and more into pleasure. I swear I would love to just be a fly on the wall at those kind of things, just to watch the interactions." I paused as I recalled meeting Carlisle's strange friends, "I learned not to dip my pen in the office ink, basically."

"Those dips are the best kind, the exciting kind. I mean letting things get heavy in an office where someone could come in at any moment, I mean that's adrenaline on a whole different level."

I lowered my eyes, a blush rose to my cheeks. I didn't know much about sex but I knew that the sound of that type of situation excited me in ways that I couldn't understand. Either way, I was still uncomfortable talking about the subject, especially since there was nothing I was going to ever be able to contribute.

"Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to embarrass you." Edward placed a hand on my shoulder.

"It's okay." Thankfully at that moment the waiter walked over to our table. I looked up at him as he asked us to order and I gave my order straight away.

I looked over at Alice and Jasper again, this time they were finding it hard to separate their mouths, I let out a sigh and just ordered the first things I could see on the menu for them. After writing it down in his notepad, the waiter took the menus from the table and walked back towards the bar.

"I was hoping that my roommate would involve us in some more conversation, I guess I should have put two and two together whenever Jasper got involved. I am actually glad that she asked Jasper to get you to come along. Can you imagine if I was alone right now?"

"Yes. I get to go on double dates a lot where my friends just want me to get out and instead I am watching them get wasted and practically have sex against pool tables, against dartboards, in toilets … Pretty much anywhere, really. I do have the sneaky suspicion that will be exactly where Jasper will find himself, tonight. Anyway, I will take you home before that happens and don't worry, I have a friend who is working the night shift behind the bar and he will make sure that Jasper and Alice will get home, okay too."

"Oh, that's really kind of you but Alice will be coming home with me. I want her to come home at the same time I do. So I know that she is safe."

Edward held up a hand, "okay, your choice but I think that she may want to stay with her boyfriend tonight. Call it a hunch, or maybe just the fact that alcohol can make a person so horny it hurts. Sorry, I don't have much of a filter with this stuff. I would talk about my job but I fear accountancy would just drive you to more drink."

"I actually loved maths in school." I smirked, taking a sip of water when the waiter placed all our drinks on the table.

"So you are a numbers girl at heart, huh? Most of the guys in my apartment can't even spell let alone do basic spreadsheets. Although, I do think about work a lot so it's nice to have the time to actually have normal conversations. Even when I am out with the guys we always end up talking about work, it always seems to filter into what we are saying. So what do you think about Carlisle?"

I shifted in my seat, I didn't know if it was professional to talk about my boss with anyone, especially not someone who worked in the same building. I ran a finger over the rim of my glass as I thought about answering him. "So far I think he is very good at what he does, he has a lot of responsibility and he has treated me well so far. Better than most of the so-called bosses in my previous jobs anyway."

I was about to say something else when Alice and Jasper managed to stop kissing and adjust themselves.

"So I think we should really order now." Alice said, panting softly and readjusting her hair and top.

 _This was going to be a long night._

 _I decided to chop this chapter into two, considering its length. I have a plan for Edward and he is not going to be a bad character ,that I can promise you. I will update the next one sooner, I promise x_


	13. Thirteen

The Assistant

 _I felt bad for leaving you guys so long so here is part two of dinner! Love you, all._

 _I do cover the subject of same gender sexuality in this chapter, here is your warning if you are easily offended. Also the subject of therapy/counselling is included as well._

_.xBx._

"Oh, I guess you guys ordered for us, huh?" Alice laughed nervously, "I'm sorry, this is poor friendship etiquette."

"Its fine, Alice. Bella and I can entertain ourselves, besides, we are going to be working in the same building so I am sure there will be other times where we can put the world to rights." Edward answered with a bright smile, surely to conceal his laughter. I couldn't help but find the situation funny, Alice and Jasper were like real-life rabbits, completely unable to keep their hands off each other.

"We ordered for you anyway, Ali. So … Are you going to tell me about Jasper? Or do I have to hear it from Edward?" I teased, raising my eyebrows at her as I drank from my glass.

"No don't let Edward tell you anything about me, I am afraid that Alice might run for the hills. Besides, we both have stories that can make us instantly unattractive to the opposite sex." Jasper nodded towards Edward with a smirk.

"Definitely." Edward replied.

"What can I say about Jasper? I mean things that won't inflate his ego any further. We met at work that much is obvious. He has one older sister who is married and has a son, he grew up in Somerset … Or was it Cornwall? Anyway, it was down south somewhere and he moved to London for work and got promoted from an assistant to an editor in a number of years." Alice smiled proudly, she had always been good at paying attention to guys that she cared about.

"You do pay attention don't you, my lovely?" Jasper asked nuzzling into her.

"I a _m_ your assistant, most of your history I can get from a computer or a filing cabinet. I guess it's my job to know everything about everyone. Call it a benefit of being able to get your clients to keep investing in you."

"Do you want to go promote further up in the magazine, Alice?" Edward asked.

With an enthusiastic nod, Alice took a sip of her wine, "of course. No one can be an assistant forever, but being one can help you get to know the company, the magazine and dip into all the other departments. Although, no offence Edward but there is no way I would show my face in accounting. Maths bores me to tears."

"None taken." Edward replied, looking around at other people in the restaurant.

"Are you happy in your department, Edward? Or do you want to try and advance as well?" Alice asked.

"I wouldn't mind either way, I like the look of becoming the head of department but our existing head is already great so, I'd have some pretty big shoes to fill. Right now I am happy waiting until something comes up about another decision but the department, the people in it are good people to work with."

"Besides, he chose accounting over being my assistant so they must be some good lads down there, huh buddy?" Jasper joked, holding up his glass in the air.

Edward stayed silent, lowering his head he smiled to himself and nodded.

"How are you finding the infamous Carlisle Cullen, Bella? Aside from being the enemy to my magazine, he is quite the celebrity around these parts. Since we're out of work, I guess we can talk about him as a normal human being." Jasper said, drinking more of his own drink.

"He _is a_ human being, that is, he is a man and right now he has given me the impression that he works hard at what he does. The people at the conference were … Interesting, in compared to the way he is … As you say …As a human being." I replied, I had noticed a pattern when others mentioned Carlisle, either they didn't know what to make of him or they had a hidden tone to their voices. What was it about him that influenced others? Why was Jasper referring to him as a human being and not a man? They did have the same job and the same _level_ of job at that. Opposing magazines or not, competition or not it didn't make sense.

I saw Edward glance at me from the corner of my eye, I looked back at him. A kind of realisation dawned on his face before he looked back down again.

"You're right, I am very sorry, Bella." Jasper said, he must have noticed the defence in my tone, even though I hadn't meant for it to be so obvious. "Besides, the guy has been through enough. After what Edward has told me I am surprised that he returned to work so soon, or at least didn't do some part time work for a while, at least."

"If you mean his wife, then I know all about her. Women can be just as nasty as men, sometimes. Carlisle is working to keep his empire, he has done his best … From what I have gathered so far. He's a good boss, I am confident that I will do a good job for him and I hope I follow that through for however long I am in his employment."

There was a silence at the table, I had let my mouth run away from me. I cleared my throat and grabbed the bottle of wine from the waiter's hand and took a swig from the top.

"Would you like a glass, miss?"

I drank as much as I could before placing the bottle down and looking up at him, "we are going to need another one, I think and three glasses, please? I'll just swig this straight from the bottle." I bashfully lowered my head.

 _Damn, Bella way to bring all the attention onto you. Why do I have to get so defensive over Carlisle, I had no hold over him, no control._

 _Besides, I'm his assistant, that is all I can ever be._

 _Anyway, look at me, I'm hardly beautiful or have a great figure. Why would someone like him ever look at me in any other way?_

"Oh, Bella." Alice said, I looked up at her with a scowl, pleading with my eyes for her not to stay on the subject.

"Elizabeth had an affair with his friend, Stefan I believe."

I looked up at Jasper.

 _Stefan?_

 _Did he say Stefan?_

 _Does he mean …_

The realisation dawned on me, that must have been the same Stefan that we met on the conference. Then why would they still be friends? How can Carlisle forgive the man who was supposedly his university best friend over that kind of betrayal?

"The two still talk, however, he and Carlisle are always trying to find out information about each other's companies just so they can beat the other to the bat creatively. If you ask me, the man should have just cut ties then and there. I have a lot of people at my magazine who associate with people from Carlisle's, word travels fast in this field, Bella. Nothing is ever kept a secret for long."

I lowered my eyes and placed my napkin on the table, feeling a little nauseous. "Please, excuse me." I turned and made my way to the toilets. I didn't make it and found myself heading outside and into the fresh air.

I took the chance to take a deep breath in the silence, I watched the city lights ahead of me as my mind wandered to Stefan and Carlisle. It didn't make sense, none of this did.

"Bella?"

I glanced to the side hearing Edward's voice. I sighed to myself.

"Come on, let's walk along the dock." I felt his hand on my shoulder, I let my legs walk beside his as we walked away from the restaurant entrance. "Don't worry, I told Alice I would see how you were. When I saw that you were walking the _opposite_ way to the toilets, I figured that you may of needed a helping hand."

I grimaced, staying silent. Trust me to make a scene when there wasn't a scene to be made. Why was this getting to me so much? This was Carlisle's business, not mine. It was his choice to remain friends with this guy.

"You know, I think that I can hear your brain clunking. Talk, Bella it's not healthy to keep things bottled up." Edward said after a minute, nudging my shoulder.

"I was just thinking about Carlisle and Stefan. I met him, Stefan, he was one of the guys I met at the conference."

"Wasn't that a little awkward?"

"I didn't sense any awkwardness, that's why I didn't understand how the two seemed to be so _normal_."

"Perhaps they needed to be, perhaps considering where they were, they didn't want to cause trouble. I mean, who knows why. I am sure Carlisle has his reasons, the man has always worked mostly alone anyway, even with loads of people around him."

As we approached the dock railing, I rested my arms on it and looked out onto the water. "It's not my business to know."

Edward appeared next to me and assumed the same position, after a small sigh he looked at me. "You are starting to feel more for him, aren't you?"

I scoffed, even I wasn't convinced by it but it was the only thing I could do. "What are you talking about?"

"Come on, Bella. Give me some credit. All that maths doesn't cause my brain to shrink you know? I may be one of the maths nerds but I know when someone has a crush. I guess you could say it's my own area of expertise."

I glanced at him, frowning a little. "You mean you have never been with anyone?"

"Sure, I've been with people but no one I care about enough. I guess my line of work makes it hard to meet anyone, anyone who shares the same _interests_ as me that is."

"Same interests? What do you mean?"

Edward smirked at me, "by interests I mean people who share the same interests in their sexuality. They like to participate in the unconventional type of relationship. I'm gay, Bella. I am a gay accountant surrounded by straight men who play far too many video games."

"Oh." I replied instantly grimacing at not being able to say anything else more interesting. I let it sink in for a moment before speaking, "you don't _look_ like a gay man, though."

Edward laughed and looked back out onto the water, "and what do typical gay men look like? The ones who wear pink, slap a shit ton of contour onto their cheeks and dress up in drag on the weekends? There are more 'closeted-gays' Bella, the ones who want to keep their sexuality private due to negative experiences in their pasts. Let's just say time has been a great healer when it comes to what people think about my sexuality."

I edged closer to him, I lowered my eyes as I thought about what to say to that. People could be evil, narrow-minded enough to hate on someone who clearly had potential in their lives, who wouldn't want to harm anyone. "I would never think any less of you." I whispered, "I think it's brave that you are not afraid of your sexuality, plus how strong you must be to get through all of that."

"Thank you. Plus I can see the appeal with Carlisle, even though I am related to him distantly and that would be far to disgusting for my freaky mind to comprehend, I can see why he would appeal to women." Edward rubbed my shoulder. "Don't worry, you're secret is safe with me. Although I won't pretend that I don't think that Alice and Jasper may have already sussed it out after that little scene in there."

"Oh stop." I slapped his shoulder and ran a hand through my hair, "Like he is ever going to look at me, twice."

"What are you talking about, Bella?"

"Edward you've worked in that building a hell of a lot longer than me. You've seen the women that work there, I mean look at Rosalie. I am not tied under the same umbrella as them, I will never be the same as them."

"Oh bullshit, Bella. Those girls have less substance than a loaf of bread. Just because they are attractive doesn't mean that they can hold a conversation. Those girls are just as insecure as you, in different ways. You have just as much chance as any of them with a guy? What makes you think otherwise?"

I bit down on my lip, running a hand through my hair, "I'm not sexy enough for guys … To be interested." I could feel the tears about to fall from my eyes and I shook my head. Now was not the time to ruin the evening with my negative view of myself. Call it years of never feeling good enough for anyone or anything.

"Trust me, Bella. You have nothing to worry about. I know it is much easier said than done. I will help you on this, you can't go around hating on yourself like that, especially when you don't have any reason to. If you accept me, then I accept you. We can be friends who help each other, I can even be your eyes and ears with all the gossiping girls in the canteen, you want to know more about the infamous Mr Cullen I would be more than happy to assist you."

I couldn't help but smile, "thank you, Edward but I don't think it would be very 'assistant-like' of me to engage in stalkering tactics. At least not _this_ early in the employment process." I joked and laughed. "Thank you for making me feel better."

"You're welcome, besides it's not every day a girl has one gulp of wine and wants to vomit. Talk about lightweight, I think that is something else we have to work on. Come out with me and I will get your liver used to alcohol in no time. It's some good shit if it's done safely and recreationally of course."

I rolled my eyes and took my arms off of the railing, "come on, let's go back inside before we are missed."

Edward smirked, holding out his arm for me to take, "I highly doubt they would even notice we're gone."

_.xCx._

"What has got you up so late?"

Rosalie came into my office, I had stayed late at work not really wanting to go back to my empty house for the weekend. I was deep into planning her leaving party for next week but of course, she didn't know anything about this.

"Nothing I just wanted to finish up looking at the latest designs that the associate editors have sent me. I just wanted to write my final thoughts so that we can start new on Monday."

"That bad, huh?" Rosalie waddled over to me and sat down on the seat opposite my desk.

I closed my laptop lid and rested my back deeper into my desk chair.

"Besides, you have just come back from a conference, you don't want to go home and get some shut-eye?"

"I could say the same for you. Not being at a conference but you are heavily pregnant." I replied, smirking to myself as I took a sip of water from the glass on my desk.

"We are talking about you, you have a lot on your mind … Or shall I say you have a person a lot on your mind."

"Rosalie-"

"No Carlisle. I have seen the way you look at her, I haven't seen that look since …. Well, it's been a long time. You have just met her which I admit is a little strange but there has been a lot of time passed since you were in the dating game, boss. As unprofessional as this may look why don't you date her."

"A relationship, with my assistant? Rosalie, be serious. We have a reputation to uphold, I need to be seen as a man who has everything under control. A man whose position is nothing but hard work and professionalism, there are contacts that give us money, Rosalie I can't just throw this publication away on some silly crush."

"Crushes are never silly, Carlisle. Look I may still be freaking hormonal and stuff, I just want you to realise that you deserve this. After Elizabeth-"

"Rose-"

"No Carlisle. You cannot let her continue to have this hold over you, to affect your life this way. What's wrong with looking at another person? Just appreciating another person, even if it is as you say a passing crush? Why don't you deserve the chance to look at someone that way?"

"I am a celebrity, Rosalie. The paps follow me around like a bad smell and Bella, she's different. I heard her, she told me that she didn't want to be photographed with me. Bella Swan is not suited for this life, to be with a guy whose life is his work. I couldn't spend any time with … Lizzie. I chose my work over her, that's why she left."

"Again, _no_ Carlisle. You're still blaming yourself for not being around? That bitch knew that you had five publications to look after, she knew what she was getting herself into and she vowed to love you until the day you died."

"Rose-"

"Don't even try to stop me because you need to hear this, Carlisle. I'm leaving and you need to get this into your head. Elizabeth fucked you over, not just fucked you over with a stranger but with your best friend. That is not okay, that is never going to be okay. The fault is with her, it is all with her and you have nothing to blame yourself for. I have seen you dive into your work to cover up the fact that you are hurting. I have tried to support you when you have been buried under so much work that you can't see the wood from the trees. I have tried to get you to talk to the therapist in the building but you always tell me that you're okay. Right now, I know that with this change, this crush, there isn't going to be room for blame. You have to forgive yourself, Carlisle. You have to do it because Bella doesn't deserve to work with that, I have loved every second of being your assistant Carlisle but my god it has taken a lot out of me. There can't be three people in a relationship, boss." Rosalie sniffed and wiped her eyes. "I think the world of you, you big goon and I want nothing but happiness for you. As wrong as I thought Bella would be as your assistant and as a person to work with you in general, I have been proven wrong."

I smiled, letting my own tears fill my eyes, "I don't know what it is about her, Rose."

"I do. She's pure, she's innocent, she's young, she still has hope. The girl works stupid hard just like you so you share that in common. I can see the two of you sitting in this office for all hours of the night trying to get stuff done."

"I can, too. Anyway, what could I give her?"

"Carlisle you're a freakin' millionaire, not to mention a hugely successful man in his own right. That shit is attractive to girls, men who can have power, independence and can work hard at their jobs just so we can nurture them after a long day."

"It's been a week, Rose. How can someone affect me like this? I can't honestly imagine being with someone after just a week, what is that for a foundation?"

"Stop doubting and arguing my points, Carlisle. You know I am right. Whatever you decide to do, find a way to sort yourself out, first. I am not condoning inter-office relationships because lets face it ninety five percent of people that work in this building are canoodling with one another but you deserve to be happy."

I wiped my tears from my cheeks and smiled, "I am really going to miss you, Rose. Who is going to be there when I need to talk about the deep stuff?"

"You better believe you're not getting rid of me that easily. Like I've probably said to you time and time again, before you have my number and I will be up at all hours of the night but for different reasons this time, I am on the end of the phone if you want. Besides, I need to know what will develop between you and Bella."

I rolled my eyes, "Let me guess, you don't want anyone to know that we had this kind of conversation?"

Rosalie smirked, thought for a moment and shook her head, "you know what? I don't care anymore. Tell whoever you want. I guess this is us, making progress, building developments in our working relationship." I watched as Rosalie reached into her pocket and pulled out a small card, with a small smile she placed it onto the table in front of me.

"That is the name of my therapist. She's over the other side of town and let's just say she owes me a favour for introducing her to her husband. I am going to be calling her and saying that you are going to make an appointment and I want you to go. Will you promise me?"

I sighed, keeping my eyes on the card "I don't want to see someone and talk about my problems, Rosalie."

"The therapist gets paid for listening to you and you get the help you need with your issues, it's a double win. Boss, it's not every day I preach to people about therapy because I don't want them to know that I have been in that place before where I have just needed to blow off some steam to someone impartial. You need to just let out how you feel in a non-judgmental, safe space. Everyone needs to vent sometimes and you can't always go back to an empty house with so much weighing on your heart. I know for a fact that you being here so late has _nothing_ to do with designs. You haven't wanted to go home since you're divorce, it reminds you too much of her."

I let her words sink in, I couldn't hide anything from her. Rosalie had been through a lot with me and she had seen me in a lot of predicaments which I am not proud of. I couldn't deny that the thought of going home never appealed to me since my marriage broke up, I could still see Elizabeth standing on top of the stairs, sitting on the bed as she brushed her hair and taking a shower in the morning and brushing her teeth at the same time when she was running late for work. I couldn't bring myself to sell my townhouse, I had spent a lot of money and conversed with too many interior designers to make it just how I wanted it.

"Rosalie, you know that this isn't going to be easy for me…"

"Of course I do. However, I can kick your arse repeatedly for not going but ultimately you have to make the decision. You have to realize that this isn't right. This kind of behaviour is going to eat you up and you not wanting to go home, which is most people's safe haven and want to stay and sleep in your office all night is not normal, buddy. This is my intervention, an intervention from a heavily pregnant lady on the verge of popping."

I swallowed, ran a hand through my hair and picked up the business card with the other, I placed the card into my blouse pocket and looked back at her with a smile.

"Okay, I promise you … I will give this is a try."

 _Admittedly I didn't plan for this chapter to go this way but it just came out this way. Thank you for reading and I will see you again for another x_


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